u- 






SAN FRANCISCO STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 



BULLETIN No. 5 (New Series) 



AN ELEMENTARY 
COURSE OF STUDY 
IN LITERATURE 



By ALLISON WARE 

Supervisor of the Teachine of Literature, Sin Francisco State Normal School 



SAN TRANCISCO STATE NORMAL SCHOOL COURSES OL STUDY 



Some six years ago the members of the Faculty of the State Normal 
School at San Francisco undertook the issuance of Bulletins of Method for 
the teaching of the various subjects which they supervised. These Bulletins 
were primarily issued as Courses of Study for the Normal Elementary 
School in which the normal students are trained as teachers, but, later, 
larger editions were published for the use of the public schools. Up to the 
time of the great disaster of April 18, 1906, twelve Bulletins had been 
issued. The fire, however, destroyed the entire stock and even our library 
copies. We are now beginning the publication of revised editions of these 
Courses of Study. 

The following courses are now ready for distribution : 

No. 1 (new series). A Course of Study in Primary Language, and Handbook to the 
State Series Text. By Effie B. McFadden. Price, postpaid, 30 cents. 

No. 2 (new series). A Course of Study in Primary Arithmetic, and Handbook to the 
State Series Text. By David R. Jones. Price, postpaid, 30 cents. 

No. 3 (new series). A Course of Study for the Teaching of Reading to Beginners, and 
Handbook to the State Series Primer and First Reader. By Alma M. Patterson. 
Price, postpaid, SO cents. 

No. 4 (new series). A Course of Study in Map Geography. By Allison Ware. Price, 
postpaid, 30 cents. 

No. 5 (new sei-ies). A course of Study in Literature for Grammar Grades. By 
Allison Ware. Price, postpaid, SO cents. 



The following courses are in preparation : 

A Course of Study in Grammar, and Plandbook to accompany the States Series Text. 
By Frederic Burk. 

A Course of Study in History, and Handbook to the State Series Advanced Text. By 
Archibald B. Anderson, Supervisor of the Teaching of History. 

A Course of Study for the Teaching of Reading, and Handbook to the State Series 
Second and Third Readers. By Alma M. Patterson, Supervisor of the Teaching 
of Reading. 

A Course of Study in Language for Grammar Grades. By Effie B. McFadden, Super- 
visor of the Teaching of Language. 



SAN FRANC15CO 5TATL NORMAL SCHOOL 

BULLETIN No. 5 (New Series) 



AN LLLMLNTARY COUR5L 
OF 5TUDY IN LITLRATURL 
FOR GRAMMAR GRADES 



By ALLISON WARE. 

II 
Supervisor of the Teaching of Literature, San Francisco 
State Normal School 



SACRAME.NTO 

W. W. SHANNON Superintendent of State Printing 

1908 



\L|B1iAKY of OON'JKESS 
i wo Copies rtt^ur^. 

APR 23 1908 

t/i3» A- 50(0. I 



Copyright, 1908 

By 
Allison Ware 



V 






TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Pages. 
LITERATURE IN THE GRAMMAR SCHOOLS 5-26 

The Content of Our Present Literature Courses 5-0 

Prevailing ^Methods q.j 

Alleged Results of Our Literature Work 7-8 

Results as Shown by Testing Our Graduates 8-9 

The Real Ends of School Literature 10-12 

Sound and Unsound Content 12-16 

Sir Roger de Coverley Papers, a Typically Bad: Case 12-13 

The Dangers of the "Type Method" in Literature 14-15 

Some Methods to be Avoided 16 

Form Analysis : the Bane of Present ]Metiiods 16-18 

The Influence of the Latin Tradition on Methods 18-li) 

The Influence of Scholarship on Methods 19 

Some Fictions of Pedagogy 19-20 

The Influence of Book Making on Content and Method 20 

Appreciation, the Aim of Sound Method 21 

The Teacher as Story-Teller 21-22 

The Teacher as Interpreter 22-28 

Class Activity in Literature 2.3-24 

Memory Work in Literature 24 

Literary Knowledge and the Cumxlative Review 24-25 

Which Shall It Be ? 25-26 

HORATIUS AT THE BRIDGE 27.34 

RIP VAN WINKLE .3.5-41 

THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 42.58 

EVANGELINE .59-64 

IVANHOE (i.5-74 

SNOW-BOUND 7.-)-S4 

MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY S.5-91 

ENOCH ARDEN 92-99 

GOOD READING HABITS 100-103 



AN LLLMLNTARY COUR5L OF 5TUDY. 



LITERATURE. IN THL GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 



In comparison with arithmetic, grammar, language work, and other sub- 
jects, the grammar grade literature course has received but scanty construct- 
ive attention in the last few years. Many subjects have been, at least 
partially, clarified as to their purposes, content, and method; but this has 
been allowed to remain tangled and obscure. This is not fair to the sub- 
ject ; nor is it fair to the school-supporting public whose faith in the efficacy 
of teacherdom should move all teachers to the most earnest scrutiny in 
forming courses of study. Worst of all, it is not fair to the boys and girls. 
To their development our schools miLSit minister. Their welfare demands the 
most scrupulous care in the selection of what our schools should teach. And 
if all this were not ground for a careful overhauling of the course in litera- 
ture, a new portent appears to stimulate the luidertaking : there is a strong 
and growing discontent with our school work in literature. To what end is 
it designed ■ On what rational basis is its system of method founded ? 
Why do we find in this latter day that many of our boys,— school boys,— 
hate to read and our girls become perverts in reading? Why are the great 
poems and stories of the race less well known by school graduates than they 
were fifty years ago? Why is the appreciation of poetry becoming a cult 
for a caste rather than a joyful experience for all? These questions in 
various forms may no longer be denied,— if for no better reason than 
because of their importunity. 

It is a fair and pertinent business, therefore, to pause for a moment in 
the making of courses of study in literature and to examine the state of 
that subject as it now reveals itself in our schools. 

TRADITIONAL CONTENT OF THE LITERATURE COURSE. 

At the present time, literature under that name is generally found in the 
seventh and eighth grades. During these years certain poems' and prose 
selections are introduced with an object apparently different from that 
pursued in framing the reading course of the lower grades. Among the 
selections commonly found in the work of the seventh and eighth grades 
are the following: Evangeline, Miles StancHsli, Hiawatha, The Merchant of 
Venice, Ivanhoe, Snow-hound, Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy 

(5) 



Holloiv, The Lady of the Lake, Julius Caesar, The Vision of Sir Launfal, 
Eohin Hood, Enoch Arden, The Christmas Carol, Sir Roger de Coverley, 
Tales from Shakespeare, The Man Witltout a Country, Silas Marner, 
The Great Stone Face, Translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, and The 
Alhamhra. 

One of these per half year is the usual arrang'ement. Many a course in 
literature is. therefore, based upon four of such longer masterpieces, some- 
times with shorter selections for cursory treatment sandwiched in. 

Not one of a score of courses of study examined by the writer in connec- 
tion with this work contains one fourth as many long selections as have been 
named. Why this is so will be seen from an examination of the methods 
and aims employed in teaching the subject, and the effects it produeas may 
be determined by an inspection of the products of our schools. 

TRADITIONAL METHOD: THE STUDY OF THE AUTHOR 's LIFE. 

The methods generally in use are based on what has been called the 
principle of "intensive study." A composite sketch of the procedure 
seems to be something like this: First, the life of the author is studied. 
This is regularly done as a sort of sacrifice to the shades of the writer, and 
shows little or no discrimination in method, or thought as to educational 
results. Generally the author's life is a string of barren details poorly put 
together in the introduction or the notes of the text, or served cold from 
some biographical dictionary. In such case the child learns when the 
author was born, whether his father M^as a preacher or not, whence he 
inherited his artistic temperament, how old he was when he wrote his first 
poem, what a certain Great ]\Ian once said to him when he was a little boy, or 
what he as a Great Man once said to some little boy, whether when he was 
in school he liked arithmetic or not, how at one time he was editor of this 
or that long-since defunct magazine, and how at last he was decently 
shelved at some university or in the United States diplomatic service, or, 
horrible v/arning, drank himself to death. There is no attempt to make 
a story out of the stuff' thus presented. Indeed, nine times out of ten it is 
not fit to make a story. It does not. and its very nature can not, thrill or 
delight or exalt or stimulate the hearts of the hearers. No emotional excita- 
tion accompanies its daily two-page dole. Nor, on the other hand, are the 
biographical facts presented in themselves worth remembering. Here and 
there may be some scrap of knowledge about some writer that the child 
might actually meet and use in life. But that goes into the hash with the 
rest, and is with the rest first loathed and then forgotten. The amount of 
biographical trash that is served up to children in the grammar and high 
schools under the head of literature is only conceivable to one who remem- 
bers what an amount of it he has forgotten. The best thing that can be 
said of it is that one recovers rapidly from it. 



(6) 



A STUDY OP LANGUAGE FORMS AND MORAL PLATITUDES. 

After the author has been propitiated, the masterpiece is taken up and 
the intensive work is on in earnest. In the first place, the children have 
the selection as a readino- lesson. This is the first principle of method to 
appeal to the teacher because the work is made an unmarked or at best but 
vaguely set off continuation of the formal work in reading-. Besides, tradi- 
tion has sanctioned the method and it is easy to apply it. 

Composition then claims its share of the spoils. One passage nuist be 
paraphrased: another is to be condensed: a certain description is to be 
reproduced. Next, if it be poetry, the versification is attacked, the rhyme 
and meter classified, analyzed, and dwelled upon. Odd and misshapen 
sentences are selected for grammar exercises and diagramming. Hard 
words are threshed out, derivations are determined, allusions are chased 
to the back of the book and finally caught. Figures of speech are harried 
about. Gems are .selected for memorization. The child is told to learn,— 
''Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels," 
because it is a good example of a metaphor. ^leanwhile, moral lessons 
have been diligently brought from hiding and exploited ; it seems to be 
assumed that literature is a text-book of didactic morality. 

ALLEGED VS. ACTUAL RESULTS OF LITER.VTITRE TEACHING. 

The first teacher you meet will tell you what all this is supposed to 
do for the pupil. You will be told trippingly that this work in literature 
gives the pupil the culture that conies from contact with our master-writers : 
that it inspires in him a love for good books ; that it purifies his heart, fires 
his imag'ination, develops his better nature, and molds his character. Most 
of us have said this often enough in one way or another. But the actual 
results are not to be proved by our making this fiuent boast, however honest 
w^e may be in it, but rather in careful examination of our products,— the 
boys and girls who pass through the literature course. This is the evidence 
upon which the merits of the work nuist be judged. 

A TYPICAL RESULT. 

The story is told of a boy who was preparing his literature lesson while 
his little sister, who had glanced over his shoulder at the poem before him,— 
Gray's Elegy,— went about repeating to herself the line, "The curfew tolls 
the knell of parting day," "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day." 
After she had said this over and over some half-dozen times the distracted 
brother turned sharply and said, ' ' Why do you go around repeating that fool 
line? It almost drives me crazy." The girl, in wonder, replied, "Why, 
don't you like it? I think it's beautiful. It sounds so fine. Just listen, 
'The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.' I like it." "Like it!" 
snorted the brother, ' ' You just wait until you get into the eighth grade and 
hear the teacher say, 'What does curfew mean? What does knell mean? 

(7) 



What does parting day mean? Johnnie, scan that line! Then you won't 
like it an}» more. You '11 hate it. ' ' And the pity of it is that he is right. 
She and hundreds of others have come to hate it, or at best to remain 
untouched bj"- its appeal. 

WHAT LITERATURE HAS AND HAS NOT DONE FOR OUR GRADUATES. 

The writer has recently had some experience with grammar and high 
school graduates of something more than average common sense and culture 
and has been interested in getting their versions of the purposes of litera- 
ture in the schools and the result secured from school literature by the 
pupil. In a majority of cases the cry was first voiced that the main pur- 
pose of the work is to hunt down the meaning of allusions. It has l)een 
agreed by whole classes of these graduates from the literature courses of 
our grammar and high schools that there is but little reason for putting 
the Charge of the Light Brigade into a course in literature, because the 
the only thing to study about in it is the single allusion to ' ' Cossacks ' ' ! 
Another prevalent notion advanced by them is that literature is a means of 
learning something about authors. No claim was made by these educated 
young people that the}* remembered anything of much consequence of all 
this biographical matter; but the learning of it was no small slice of their 
school work in literature. On a par in importance was the idea that litera- 
ture is the study of language forms. All agreed that figures of speech, 
versification, sentence structure, derivation of words, and all the rest of it, 
had been made much of when the work was done; although no one could 
remember of 'having made any use of such knowledge after the last exami- 
nation was passed. In fact, no one seemed to have very much of it left to 
use, or to feel any keen embarrassment due to its absence. Some said that 
paraphrasing, descriptive writing, retelling, etc., was an important part of 
their work, and that drill in composition was one of the principal results 
attained by them. Moral lessons were also referred to as an important 
object. 

Then proceeding on another tack, lists of the world-known, world-loved 
stories and poems have been read to these graduates of our literature classes 
to see how far their literary tastes had actually and unconsciously led them 
into the culture and knowledge nearest the heart of the subject. The result 
was interesting, not to say shocking. Few knew anything about the story 
of Damon and Pythias. No one knew the story of the sword of Damocles. 
Thermopylae and Marathon were confused echoes from the ancient history 
class. Joan of Arc lived as a badly blurred name. The Gordian Knot was 
a meaningless phrase. The question was asked one class, ' ' How many have 
read some of Tennyson's poems?" Some hands were raised, many brows 
were contracted, and a look of uncertainty wandered around the room. 
"I mean the Idyls of the King, In Memoriam, The Brook, The Charge of 
the Light Brigade, etc.," was prompted. All hands were raised. "Outside 
of school and school requirements — just for fun?" the question concluded. 
All hands dropped but two, — raised in half-ashamed confession. And this 
among a score of rather superior products of our schools. 

(8) 



WANTED: A LOVE OF GOOD BOOKS. 

There is a common cry that boys do not like school literature, and it 
seems to be pretty well founded. Is it because they do not thrill to any 
of the good or brave or beautiful things which the best men have done or 
thought? It is a common cry that children about to graduate from our 
grammar schools do not like to read. Is it because human feelings have 
become blunted in this degenerate age, and no longer respond to the stimuli 
that have moved the race for lo. these many years? The writer knows a 
family of seven grown children, all of them fairly well educated in the 
public schools of this State. Three of them like to read. One developed 
well-grooved tastes before he went to school ; another got his cue from the 
first by way of companionship and imitation ; and the third grew into a some- 
what tardy reading habit through the temptation of fireside stories, well- 
filled book shelves current literature in loads, — and the abounding grace 
of God. Nearly every other day the principal of any large grammar school 
meets a parent whose boy is troublesome and tired of school. Four times 
out of five that boy doesn't like to read. It is an interesting coincidence. 

' PROMISES UNFULFILLED. 

It is plain statement of fact that not one of the glib promises which we 
are prone to make so abundantly for our school work in literature is being 
commonly fulfilled. Our pupils are not grasping the ideals and assuming 
the emotional attitudes embodied in the selections treated. They are not 
developing a love for good books. They are not receiving their birthright 
of appreciation for the lore of their race. They are getting just what we 
give them : some increase in the power of oral reading unaccompanied by a 
love for it; a knowledge of a mass of idle gossip concerning authors' lives, 
unconnected Avith any culture demand set by the world and hopelessly 
evanescent; and some insight into the complexities involved in the technical 
analysis of language forms, — an insight painful and purposeless in its 
acquisition and hardly to be maintained until the final examination is over. 

A BARTERED BIRTHRIGHT. 

All this is the logical price that we must pay for what we are doing 
in literature. Figs have not yet been gathered from thistles ; — but the 
course of study has ingeniously grafted thistles onto fig trees and gathered 
a bountiful crop. Children with the normal healthy appetites of their 
unfolding emotional life have asked for bread ; and we have handed them a 
stone. They have clamored for meat ; and we have passed them a serpent. 
Being intelligent, the}^ do not raise their plates for second helping. Then 
we marvel, at the decreasing popular interest in poetry, bewail the decay of 
the old-time love for the literarj- heritage of the race, — and cry anathemas 
against the sordid commercial age in which our lines have fallen ! The 
times are all right and so are the children ; but in so far as our schools 
could do it the literary birthright of our boys and girls has been bartered 
for a mess of pottage. It is high time for us to ask whether we are content 
with the results of this transaction. 

(9) 



THE TRUE PURPOSES OF SCHOOL LITERATURE. 

In the first place, what should we set up as the objective, the end to be 
attained, in teaching literature? There are several ways of answering this 
question. One is merely to repeat what we have heard, the time-worn 
phrases of the craft, — "character building," "lofty ideals," "insight into 
the beauties of our language," "appreciation of the author's life," "trained 
imagination." But such a statement leaves us holding to promises whose 
fulfillment we have been unable to perform. 

Another way to formulate the purpose of school literature is to claim 
for its teaching every desirable result that the generosity of our hearts can 
dictate. This has been done so freely in the recent past for other subjects 
that it might seem only fair to let literature make its boast along with the 
rest. But what we might wish to draw from literature and what literatiire is 
really adapted to yield are very different things. Surely it becomes school 
folk, who hold the confidence of the people, to be conservative and sound in 
every promise. Our hopes and wishes are not a safe guide. 

A third way is open. We may see what values the subject should yield 
by noting carefully the values it always has yielded to the generations 
of men. What has literature proved itself able to do? These things above 
all others it has done : It has lifted the individual from the routine of his 
limited personal experience and has given him participation in all that 
the greatest have done, or known, or felt. It has solidified for nations their 
national lore, and has given races their traditions. It has crystallized and 
preserved a wonderful series of mental and emotional attitudes. It has 
given us social standards. ^loreover it has kept the individual with his 
nation, loyal to his race, in touch with his social standards, by giving him 
the viewpoint of his fellows, — by bringing him within the scope of that 
which has molded his fellows. And at all times it has been a source of 
pleasure. Ever since men have been men the bard and story-teller have 
been chief among entertainers. 

Let us imagine a man cut off from the literature that is current in the 
world about him. Supi^ose that he has never by literary proxy fought at 
Tliermopyla^, or held the Tiber bridge, or stood for knightly honor with the 
heroes of Arthur, or forced a charter from King John, or suffered and 
rejoiced wdth the JNIerchant of Venice, or felt the call when the poet said, 
"There is a pleasure in the pathless Avood," and "The moon doth with 
delight look round her when the heavens are bare"; — suppose, in short, 
that he has never enjoyed and felt the meaning of the myths and legends, 
poems, stories, and inspired interpretations that live in the hearts of those 
aliout him, — what sort of a creature would such a one be ? Suppose, further, 
tliat he is endowed with all else that education can supply : still he is far 
from being a man in fellowship with his kind. He has "varied from the 
kindly race of men." He is a thing apart, an outcast and a lonely thing, 
unsocial unhuman, a product of his own feeble class with environment, 
emotionally the result of his own paltry experiences. 

To prevent such a condition is the function of literature. Its chief service 
is to give the individual the experience of those emotions, the possession of 

(lot 



those mental attitudes which come from an appreciation of the literature 
current in his social world. He must be broug-ht into touch with the char- 
acters, situations, problems, and issues that literature has presented to his 
kind. The wealth of story and story appreciation that has been stored up 
through the centuries for the race must be opened for him. 

WILL-O '-THE-WIgP OB.JECTS. 

Some are not content to stop here and acknowledge that a sufficient pur- 
po.se has been found. They would set up the teaching of literature as the 
machinery for making writers. Or they declare that the school has done 
its duty only when literary appreciations have led to moral conduct. In 
order to square our promises by performance, let us stand on the solid 
ground of what the subject can do, and what when given half a chance it 
does do, than to depend on any frail hope as to what we may fondly hope it 
should do or might do. 

If an intelligent teacher were asked by a parent. "Can you give my 
boy, — an ordinary normal boy, under ordinary normal conditions, — a love 
for the works of Shakespeare and an appreciation of the world's best 
known, most used literature?" she would not be deceiving herself or him 
to say, "Yes, I can. Give me the boy, and don't bother me with a course 
of study that puts everything- before literary appreciation, and I'll give 
the boy a love for the world's best stories." But if the parent were not 
satisfied therewith and asked in addition,— "Then will you not, also, teach 
him to write such plays as Shakespeare wrote, or at least something or 
other that the world will love and hold to?" — the teacher, being intelligent, 
and not being in the business of taking money and children under false 
pretenses, should say, "No, I can't do it. If I could, I would resign the 
teaching of school and take to running the universe." Any ordinary 
teacher can lead any ordinary boy to admire the heroism of Leonidas or the 
civic virtue of the Consul Brutus; — attitudes of feeling that place him at 
one on these points with the rest of the world. But she would have to 
remodel his ancestry, reconstruct his home life, direct his doings and his 
diet, supervise his vital functioning, control the operation of his seven 
senses, and then at just the right psychological moment create exactly the 
right situation in order to make him fight like Leonidas, or serve the state 
as did the first Roman Consul. Life conduct is the resultant of a complex- 
ity of forces over which the school has but a limited control. There is no 
school formula in literature or any other subjects that will make the pupil 
truthful, or kind, or self-reliant, or honest, in the situations that later years 
may bring forth. 

BY-PRODUCTS. 

Yet for those wiio would shrink from believing this, — a fact commonly 
attested in the experiences of every one, — there is still some comfort. Our 
emotional experiences and our mental attitudes that we gain from litera- 
ture are factors in the complex of causes that determines conduct. The 
boy who admires the fidelity of Evangeline may not be faithful in a much 

(11) 



less trj'ing- situation ; yet his admiration for the ideal love of the heroine 
has set np a tension toward the right. Public opinion, too, is a very po"wer- 
ful factor in shaping individual conduct. If our literature could lead to 
a crystallization of strong community feeling on the subject of family 
aifeetion or civic duty, a force would be established powerful enough to 
direct the actions of the individual in the specific situations involved. But 
when all is said and done the direct, positive end of literature is pure appre- 
ciation of the stories to which the world clings. What by-products may 
come from this, what far distant, untraced consequences may arise, are 
not practical objects toward w^hich to aim. They will take care of themr 
selves if we but teach literature so as to draw from it its real and palpable 
values. 

OBJECTS MUST BE ATTAINABLE AS WELL AS DESIRABLE. 

Let us be content, therefore, to see literature do what it always has done 
in the education of the feelings and in yielding the main supply of the cul- 
ture of the race. Otherwise in trying to get from it results that are specu- 
lative and remote we will throw away the substance in grasping at the 
shadow. It has been said that some of the best mines in Nevada have been 
promoted and overcapitalized until they have become the wildest of wild- 
cats. Gold is in these mines,— loads of it; but when the prospective 
investor has asked what he could get by putting in his savings, the pro- 
moter instead of showing that the dividends would pay for a modest house 
and lot in the suburbs, has dazzled him with visions of a palace on Fifth 
Avenue and a steam yacht on the ^Mediterranean. In our el^'orts to get 
something good out of literature we must not be guilty of overcapitaliza- 
tion, or of exploiting the wrong leads. Values are before us, well worth 
the winning, — tangible values, demonstrably within our grasp, — if we but 
square our work to attain them. There is so much for the teacher of 
literature to do which should be and can be done,— and that in most schools 
is not being done,— that there is no time to follow every hue and cry promis- 
ing the speculative dividends of frenzied pedagogy. 

THE CONTENT OF THE COURSE OF STUDY IN LITERATURE. 

How can the true ends of literature be attained? In other words, how 
can the school boy be given friendly acquaintance with the literature that 
has become common property 1 First of all the course of study must consist 
of the right selections and enough of them. In both respects our present 
courses in literature are generally lacking. 

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY, A TYPICALLY BAD CASE. 

Of late years the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers have crept into a number 
of courses of study in literature. These essays on the social life of an 
English country gentleman of the early eighteenth century had a limited 
vogue in their da}' in the coffee clubs and among literary epicures and their 
following of satellites. Since then the specialist in English literature has 
been busy upon them. He has discovered that they have a ''place" in the 

(12) 



development of English prose. He has noted, presumably with joy, that 
they are written in a curious style, somewhat pompons, not to say clumsy, 
according to modern standards. He has found them to be full of quaint 
words and odd constructions and to yield innumerable allusions to events 
and conditions that have been generally forgotten for over a hundred 
years. All this offers a wide range for study, a chance for fine smackings 
of appreciations, and gives the specialist great joy. Naturally he has found 
the papers interesting, just as a paleontologist finds an odd bone or a per- 
plexing fossil a source of interest. It is of the things nearest his heart. 

All this is well enough. But the scholars and those who watch them in 
order to grasp the better at an affectation of scholarshij) have not been con- 
tent with this. They have put the essays into the public schools so that little 
children may get the rare delights which the specialists have experienced 
in ransacking them. This is a generous but a strange proceeding. Stranso 
when one remembei*s that five generations of Americans have steadily 
refused to have anything to do with Roger de Coverley Essays outside of 
school hours. Strange indeed when one considers the fact that these papers 
deal in a superficial way with the social conventions of a special day and 
land and have no pressing claim on the hearts of those living in a different 
day and land. And doubly strange when it is seen that the only possible 
interest such literature may have is addi'essed to the specialist or the con- 
noisseur in literature, among whose numbers not one in a thousand gram- 
mar school children will ever be found. 

And all this is bad. It is bad because it has resulted in teaching that 
has been without educational result; because in its very nature it has not 
been a selection of material for literature work that is adapted to yield 
values to the everyday American of average education. Moreover, it is 
only a type case of many other improper selections, and an illustration of 
the special interests that sway in directing the schoolroom method of treat- 
ing still other subjects which, if well presented, might yield values. 

THE world's appreciation, A SOUND BASIS FOR SELECTION. 

Some one will say, "Whose word is to be taken 3s to the suitability 
of this or that selection for school work in literature if the scholar is not 
to lead? Who else has the wisdom to decide? If the specialist is at fault 
no one is able to stand before the county board and out of the depths of 
his own judgment make safe answer." Fortunately, there is no need to 
appeal to any one. The great mass of cultured, well-read Americans have 
decided. They have clung to the story of William Tell. They are intimate 
with Hercules and his exploits. They are still on friendly terms wtih Robin 
Hood and King Arthur and Ivanhoe. On the other hand, they have placed 
The Great Stone Face on a top shelf; they have forgotton that there ever 
was such a poem as Comus; and they have never of their free will known 
or cared about Sir Roger de Coverley. These latter works may make ever 
so strong an appeal to the specialist in literature, but they show no hold 
on the general interest of our fellows ; and this in spite of their bolstering 
and nursing in courses of study in literature. 

(13) 



This fact, plainly evidenced by any investigation into the matter but 
probably self-evident to all, has come about through the operation of a 
well-known natural law, the law of the survival of the fittest. In the affec- 
tions of the generations the fittest has not meant the selection that offers 
the best occasion for allusion hunting, or style analysis, or discussion of 
place in literary history, or special tang for favored palates. But the race 
has chosen as fittest to live in its affections those stories, poems, and inter- 
pretations that have proved themselves to appeal to the fundamental human 
feelings and that have aroused through their situations the loves and the 
hates and the admirations that stand typical of the heart of 'the people. It 
is of this literature, proved fittest to move our hearts by the token that it 
has moved the hearts of our fellows, that we should build up our grammar 
school course of study. Through it the boy can be brought to his own in the 
literary birthright of his generation. It is the only means whereby he 
may experience the emotional experiences, the appreciations of specific 
situations, characters, and motives that literature has yielded to those who 
form his social unit. 

THE COURSE SHOULD CONTAIN MANY SELECTIONS. 

It is not sufficient, however, that the course of study should consist of 
right selections. It must contain enough right selections. One swallow 
does not make the spring, nor will one poem in the literature class develop 
an appreciation for poetry. Reading tastes are not formed over night or 
through one literary experience. They are the product of long and varied 
contact with literature. The absence of this breadth of literary contact 
is one of the fundamental weaknesses in our present course of study. 

There is another vital consideration that should urge us to increase the 
number of selections given for study in the school. The purpose of the 
work is to give the child acquaintance with the literary lore that is found 
current in the broader life about him. Plainly this can not be done by 
introducing him to merely a small fragment of this lore. He will not 
have a familiar acquaintance with Horatius because he has met Leonidas. 
Snoiv-hound will nOt give him the emotional attitudes that are conmion 
among his fellows from their appreciation of Evangeline. The child must 
be brought into direct intimate touch with as many specific characters and 
situations in literature as are necessary in order to give him what the world 
about him possesses. In this way he will be brought to have his share in 
the staple culture of his race. 

DANGERS OF THE ' ' TYPE METHOD."' 

It has been urged in this connection that a few literary types, thoroughly 
presented, will serve to give general appreciation. Without commenting 
here on the dangers lurking in the common ideas about 'thorough pre- 
sentation," it may be pointed out that this is just what our schools are 
doing and that the results show no signs of a general literary appreciation 
among our graduates. The literary type idea is dangerous because it 
seeks to maintain a fundamental error in our schools and to ground that 

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error upon a pedagogical theory. It does not note the palpable facts that 
habits of reading, like other habits, are the result of many experiences ; that 
the child must grow to a mature literary taste through many contacts with 
literature; that the type selected may not be individually a selection that 
has any part in the world culture in literature and hence may offer the 
pupil no help in securing his share of that culture ; and that the scheme has 
long been tried and found wanting. 

A WIDE LITERARY CONTENT, THROUGHOUT THE GRADES. 

The subject matter of a literature course that is set fair for results should 
consist of a great many selections suitable for all the grades. In the 
primary grades this has been provided for far better than in the grammar 
grades. The story hour still has its place in most primary departments. 
It is sometimes being supplemented by the chalk-talk and the many excellent 
story readers. In the best primary departments well-worn myths, legends, 
fables, and children's stories are receiving increasing emphasis. 

But the grammar grades have never claimed their share. Not less than 
half a hundred selections should form the grammar grade literature course. 

These selections should be chosen from the literature that has been and is 
a vital part of the culture and knowledge of the world. They should 
be such as constitute the core of the literary experiences of the mass of 
educated people. Many of them (e. g., Hercules stories; William Tell: 
Evangeline :) may very well be second-time-over presentations of stories 
first told to children down in the primary grades. 

It is an error to suppose that children do not profit by a second contact 
with the best literature and that they do not enjoy the second encounter. 
A good story is never hackneyed and stale. A great story has layer on 
layer of meaning in it. It is this underlying vitality and richness that 
is at the bottom when a story lives through the centuries. No primary grade 
child can rise to a full appreciation of the Trojan AVar. He may admire the 
courage of Achilles and delight in the spectacle of the wooden horse; but 
he will not feel the depth of motives that governed Protesilaus in his 
sacrifice, nor can he appreciate the pathos and the heroic devotion that 
vibrate through the incident of Hector parting from his wife and baby 
at the city's gate. Literature that arouses the deepest and strongest of 
human emotions is a recurring source of enjoyment. Like the best music 
and the great picture it has reserves of value. We see more in it and love 
it more each time we meet it. 

SUPPLEMENTARY READING FOR PLEASURE. 

Besides the considerable number of selections that should constitute the 
class work in grammar grade literature, a wide range of supplementary 
reading should be insured so as to lead the pupil into reading habits. 
First, should be aroused an appreciation of the stories treated in class. 
Then should come exercise of the tastes thus w^hetted in the reading of good 
books for pleasure's sake. This is the second step in the fixing of good 
reading habits. The material thus to be used by the pupils in outside 

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reading should be selected with considerable latitude. Any book not 
positively harmful in its effects is admissible. 

There are, therefore, two classes of material to be used in connection with 
grammar school work. First,— the material that forms the basis for class 
work. This should be selected from the literature that has become a part 
of our race culture, and it Should consist of as many selections as possible. 
Second,- — the material that is used as a basis for supplementary reading. 
This should consist in large part of standard, current books; but no title 
is to be excluded unless it contains a menace to the welfare of the child. 
At all times the adaptability of the selections to the appreciations of children 
must be assured. 

METHODS IN LITERATURE. 

But even with clear and worthy ends in view and with a content wisely 
chosen the work in literature may still be of no avail. Unwise methods 
may still defeat the attainment of the true ends of the course of study. 
It is safe, indeed, to say that the grammar school work in literature could 
never be fully worth while as long as present methods continue, no matter 
how carefully the course might be planned. Let us see what the situation 
is and where improvement may be made. 

PREVAILING METHODS. 

The commonly accepted method of teaching literature has been described 
already and a detailed review is not necessary here. Besides, most of us 
remember it as it was applied to, and later by, ourselves. Its principal 
characteristics are as follows: 

1. The author's life is studied. 

2. Analysis of diction, derivation of words, study of sentence structure, 
diagramming of obscure passages, and examination of elements of para- 
graph structure are later taken up. 

3. Allusion hunting, note grinding, and glossary thumbing are an 
important aspect of the work. 

4. Written paraphrases and other composition exercises accompany the 
study. 

5. The principles of versification are considered. 

6. Figures of speech are defined and classified. 

7. Memory selections are forced upon unresponsive minds. 

8. The text comes before the class in the form of an oral reading lesson. 

FORM ANALYSIS, TH!E BANE OF PRESENT METHODS. 

A mere enumeration of these aspects of our present method is enough to 
show the state of affairs that our school literature is in. Not one of the 
lines of study indicated is adapted to bring out the literary values for the 
attainment of which the work is framed. The general fault is that the 
emphasis has been placed on the forms of literature rather than on its 
content. 11: is assumed that if a pupil knows a simile from a metaphor he 

(16) 



is then and there in a state fit to appreciate the beauty of both ; that if he 
can name the kind of versification he is reading then he will feel its charm. 
It has been forgotten that literature is in the first instance something to 
enjoy, to respond to emotionally, that its characters and situations are 
the center of it all. It has been lost sight of that the form does not exist 
as an object of study, save to the specialist, but as a medium through which 
the beauty and charm of the content may be shown forth. We have given 
the bare forms, the husks of literature, to the children and have forgotten 
about the kernel. 

In every old story and in every poem that has lived in the appreciations 
of mankind there is something to arouse emotional response. There are 
fascinating situations for us to participate in, there are beautiful scenes for 
us to see, there are brave deeds and wise decisions for us to do and make. 
To these kernels of the subject all method in literature must lead if it be 
well founded. 

LITERARY APPRECIATION, CHILLED BY TRADITIONAL METHODS. 

There is no intention here to disparage oral reading, composition work, 
and such study of language forms as may be reasonable. But they are not 
ends in literature teaching and they must be taught in courses of which they 
may be made the proper goals. We do not read a novel to learn how to 
read or to become skilled in classifying figures of speech or to afi^ord us the 
delights of allusion hunting. We read it because it gives us imaginary 
introduction to interesting people, and because through its pages we enter 
into experiences which we enjoy. What would you think if you were asked 
to treat the next novel you read according to the grammar school formula 
for studying Ivanhoe? Imagine the situation for a moment. First, you 
are compelled to study a dry four-page sketch of the author's life. To 
satisfy our comparison this sketch must not be an appreciation or an inter- 
pretation of his life,— that would be enough of an infliction, — but it must 
be a series of chronicled facts largely attached to dates. Upon your knowl- 
edge of these facts and dates you are then compelled to pass a quiz. 
Thereafter, the text of the novel is placed before you. Its beauty and 
charm are made manifest by oral reading, one paragraph at a time and 
each in a different style and voice,— and each voice belonging to a different 
boy or girl of twelve or fourteen years of age. Sometimes you have your 
turn at a paragraph, standing while you read in an easy and appreciative 
posture : heels together, chest thrown out, book fourteen inches from your 
eyes. At the end of each paragraph, yours included, every one joins in help- 
ful suggestion concerning (1) whether or not the reader raised his eyes 
at different places, (2) whether he modulated his voice according to right 
standards, (3) whether he mispronounced this or that word, (4) whether 

he is able to pick out the subject of the paragraph, (n) whether 

his toes were turned in or out. When criticism of the reading is over,^ 
and the paragraph, if it be an ugly one, may be read two or three 
times before it is finally polished off,— an interlocutor stands ready to test 

2— BUL. .5 (17) 



you and the other readers on a variety of matters touching it : Is such 
and such a sentence too long? Why is the exclamation point used after 
' ' Ah ' ' in the fourth line ? Give the seven rules concerning the exclamation 
point. Give the definition of "tempestuous." Name a synonym for it. 
What is a synonym? Name another synonym. Explain the derivation of 
"diverting." Are there any figures of speech in the paragraph? What 
figure is found in the third sentence? Define personification? What is 
the difference between a personification and a metaphor? What is the 
antecedent of "it" in line ten? Diagram the sentence. Explain the allu- 
sion to Patagonia, in line thirteen. What does the paragraph tell you con- 
cerning the author's own life? Does the last sentence make j'ou joyful or 
sad? What words in it are suggestive of sadness? Give the content of 
the paragraph in your own words. What does the paragraph teach you 
concerning respect for your elders ? Express the subject of the paragraph 

in one sentence. And so on. for each paragraph in the meager 

daily dole. 

How would you like to supply this method to your next novel or maga,- 
zine story? Would such a method arouse your appreciations, stimulate 
your emotions, and give to you the delight that comes from real immersion 
in a story ? Would you, in all candor, have anything to do with literature 
if you had to approach it through such an ordeal? There is no wonder 
that children hate "literature" when they are introduced to it through 
methods that would chill the zeal of an appreciative adult reader. The 
truth is that under such conditions they have really never tasted literature 
at all ; they have simply been stuffed on its husks. 

ORIGIN OF PREVAIUNG METHOD IN LITERATURE. 

Why did such thumbscrew-and-rack methods ever come into use ? There 
seem to be several influences inspiring and directing the system. 

INFLUENCE OF THE LATIN TRADITION ON METHOD. 

In the first place, historical influences in the form of age-old traditions 
have been at work. At the time our modern schools were starting their 
courses of study every modern language of western Europe was under the 
ban of scholarship and without the pale of the school. In that day every 
one who boasted a yearning for culture assumed to deny as far as possible 
the very existence of his mother tongue. Classical Latin was the heart of 
education. Its study was largely a study of language forms. Its scholar- 
ship was not thought to be the scholarship of the world but of a favored 
class. Later on, beginning in the latter part of the eighteenth century, a 
variety of factors gradually forced the mother tongue into the class room. 
At once the standards of the traditional classic were applied to it. Indeed, 
a strong argument for its admission was that it could be made subject to 
the same sort of study that had been devoted to the Latin. A grammar 
was run for it in ill-fitting Latin molds ; a category of its figures was made ; 
its poetry was analyzed and found to yield principles of versification; its 

(18) 



diction was made reputable by being interpreted in terms of Latin deriva- 
tion; classical allusions,^ — common enough in the English of that day, — 
still further enhanced the possibilities of exploitation in the school. And 
so our present-day school work concerning the race language was set on its 
way under the influences of the methodology^ of the classics. 

INFLUENCE OF SCHOLARSHIP ON METHOD. 

The study of English was thus given its early caste by the traditional 
objects and the ideals of the study of the language forms of Latin. Since 
then the hand of the scholar has been busy with it. The study of the 
English proved a rich digging. It soon became a field for research and 
exploitation by a new cult of scholars. As the researches grew deeper, the 
accumulation of knowledge concerning the language grew to imposing bulk. 
It had a history ; its grammar was full of delightful questions for discussion ; 
its words were derived not only from Latin, but from half a dozen inter- 
mediate and ultimate sources ; there were rules governing their pronuncia- 
tion ; rules, too, for its sentence-making and paragraphing. Without much 
delay the scholar proved that, as a field for the study of language, English 
could be made quite as formal and almost as respectable as Latin. Under 
this showing its stock rose and the common schools of our country invested 
heartily in it. 

Now a curious fact should be observed at this point : the scholars, who, 
through their excellent system of division of labor, gathered together and 
organized the vast mass of knowledge now extant concerning the language, 
did not stop to inquire how much or just what of all this aggregate wisdom 
should be instilled into the minds of boys and girls who were not preparing 
for special research work in English but who merely wished a general 
adjustment to the demands of life. Perhaps it was not the business of the 
scholars to warn the public that nine-tenths of what they knew was only 
of value to the specialist ; or it may be that they were stirred by the taunts 
and stimulated by the example of their brothers in the field of Latin; 
or possibly, being very busy men, they never thought much about it; but 
the fact is that as their research advanced, in like ratio and in the same 
direction grew the study of the English language forms in the public 
schools. The standard of pure scholarship, which in plain terms is merely 
the study of a subject for the subject's sake, thus came to direct the growth 
of the common school course in literature, — whose standard should have 
})een the study of the subject for the boys' and girls' sake. 

FICTIONS OF PEDAGOGY. 

When the law finds itself in a logical cul-de-sac it invents what is called 
a fiction of law and thus manages to maintain a serious face on the situation. 
When the scholars of English and the scholars of pedagogy found that they 
were giving a nation's children a course in English that seemed to many 
to be as purposeless in selection of material and almost as void in real 
efficiency as the narrow Latin course had been, thej^ also took refuge in a 

(19) 



fiction, — a fiction of pedagogy. They did not invent it, — in fact they were 
largely invented by it, — but they modified and adapted and decorated and 
bedecked it, and commended it to the admiration of the world. This 
fiction declared that the orderly study of grammar, syntax, rhetoric, 
prosody, and language forms in general, along the line on which scholars 
had organized them, gave general strength to the mind, cogency to the 
judgment, keenness to the observation, retentiveness to the memory; that 
it was, in short, a quick way to insure the full and general efficienc}' of all 
the mental processes. Other and minor fictions, equally pleasing, have 
been invented from time to time as their need became manifest: (1) that 
the study of grammar teaches children to speak and write correct English ; 

(2) that a study of derivations is the best way of learning what words mean ; 

(3) that a correct and fluent style of speech is the result of possessing 
much organized wisdom on the subject of sentence structure and style; 

(4) that an ability to classify figures of speech gives its possessor a peculiar 
power to appreciate such figures; (5) that the study of an author's life 
is a necessary prerequisite to one who wishes to understand what the author 
has written; (6) that a knowledge of good literature is the surest way 
to moral living. Thus each new cul-de-sac in our present school course in 
English has been labeled a gateway to something worth having; while the 
whole course has been advertised as a means to a useful and happy life. 
The authors of these fictions and their present disciples have not observed 
that the fictions were merely fictions ; that they had adopted and modified 
a theory that Latin had proved unsound ; that the given means consistently 
failed to produce the promised results; that they were confusing the 
education of a specialist in English with the education in English that might 
be of value to a nation ; that the theory of their fictions was founded on a 
psychology long since threadbare and outworn. 

"With the scholar as a scholar no one has any fault to find. As a research 
man and more especially as one who may apply new-found knowledge 
to useful ends he is an important element in our civilization. But when he 
sets the abstract standards of his scholarship as the basis for organizing 
the content and methods of grammar school work in literature it is time 
for us to stop and ask him just what that work will be worth to the children 
who are not going to be specialists in the field of English. And the time 
has passed when fictions of pedagogy will be accepted as answers. 

INFLUENCE OP BOOK-MAKING ON CONTENT AND METHOD. 

A third influence has arisen to perpetuate the traditional method and 
content of our school work in literature. The literature text-maker and the 
text-publisher know that the classics of our language can not be subjected 
to copyright control. Improvements, therefore, are introduced in the form 
of introductions, biographical sketches, foot-notes, glossaries, indexes, ap- 
pendixes, and all the other attributes of the present day texts. Upon the 
publication thus adorned a propriety right and a propriety profit may be 
maintained. Error has thus been capitalized and made to pay dividends to 
the book-maker. 

(20) 



The answer to the question, how did the curious present-day methods in 
literature come into such common use, has only been roughly outlined in 
the above. A fuller answer would take us too far from the scope of this 
work. But the opportunity for inquiry is a tempting one ; the field is rich 
with diverting situations. Into it some satirist may yet be tempted to enter, 
to the inextinguishable merriment of future generations. 

HOW MAY LITERARY APPRECIATION BE SECURED ? 

Our energies should be directly concerned with the more practical and 
desperate problem: What can we do to make the method of the grammar 
school course in literature one that will yield to the children the intrinsic 
values of its content? The answer is not far to seek: We should keep 
those intrinsic values constantly before our eyes and should shape our 
method with singleness of effort for their attainment. We should remember 
that the work is to lead the children to understand and enjoy the literature 
that their race has understood and enjoyed. We must keep this high aim 
clear from cross purposes and other ends by recognizing that the method 
in the course of study should strike straight toward it as a definite, specific 
result. 

THE TEACHER AS STORY-TELLER. 

To be more precise, the child must be introduced to the story in such 
a way that it claims his appreciations. First, then, the story should be 
told to him by the teacher. Through her telling, its situations may be made 
clear. Many of the stories, indeed, have no standard masterpiece form 
suitable for presentation. The stories of Hercules, The Trojan War, 
Marathon and Thermopylse, William Tell, Alfred the Great, Joan of Arc, 
and Damon and Pythias are examples of this class. The teacher should 
have access to reading sufficient to saturate herself with the spirit and 
meaning of each. She should see just what situations are adapted to arouse 
class appreciations. She should know in advance what emotional responses 
her class work should create. And then, the preparation being adequate, 
she should tell the story to the class for all that it is worth. The same 
method should be used in most cases in presenting a poem or a story that 
has been done into masterpiece form by some author. In the case of such 
selections as Ivanhoe, Evangeline, and Hiawatha the teacher will find this 
story-telling to be the surest avenue to the interests and awakening tastes 
of the children. In other instances, such as Rip Van Winkle and Snow- 
hound, the teacher should merely introduce the selection with a general 
introduction as to its content and nature, put in such a way as to arouse 
anticipatory interest. Some poems and prose selections should, of course, 
be placed before the children in text form, generally, as has been observed, 
after the content has been well presented by the teacher. Through this a 
new charm will be thrown over the content, new lights and shades of mean- 
ing will be brought out, and the pupil will learn to appreciate the subtle 
flavors that are found in a good story well written. 

It may well be observed at this point that there is no one way by which 

(21) 



all school literature should be taken up. Each story has its own details of 
method and there are several distinct lines of more general procedure. 
The treatment of selections included in this bulletin has been, therefore, 
an application of such method to each as its nature demands, and such, 
as classroom results have shown to be most effective. 

THE TEACHER AS INTERPRETER. 

This is the fundamental idea' of all the various methods that have been 
found effective : the teacher should be the interpreter, the medium through 
which the spirit of the story reaches the class. She should use the text, 
supplementary pictures, chalk and blackboard, and all the accesories that 
may help her in the work. But the accessories must keep to their proper 
place : they must always be recognized as means and not as ends in the work 
of interpreting a good story. 

Two general objections have been urged against this practice. One 
objection is to the effect that the average teacher can not tell a story. The 
other is that no teacher can tell a story as well as the author of a masterpiece 
has told it. Both charges at first sight may seem to be correct, but neither 
when subjected to analysis is found to contain truth pertinent to the 
issue. Power in story-telling is a natural attribute existing in varying 
degrees in all of us. To be sure, false practices will inhibit its expression 
and may in time cause it to atrophy. The teacher who has spent twenty 
years conducting books-closed quizzes may have some difficulty in calling 
up an expression of her neglected power of story-telling. But even in her 
case it can generally be done with some effort. 

In the case of the teacher who has maintained the strength of her 
instinctive story-telling impulse by using it, as well as in the case of the 
young teacher who has not destroyed this aspect of her human nature by 
false practices, there is no danger of failure in the work. 

But how, it is asked, can even a reasonably good story-teller present the 
selection in as effective a form as the great poet or story-writer? The 
answer is to be found in the fact that the teacher is dealing with children 
whose appreciation of belles-lettres has not begun to grow. The merest 
amateur can tell the story of Macbeth to an eighth grade class so as to 
arouse a far deeper appreciation of the tragedy than would be awakened if 
the immortal text itself were placed in the hands of the pupils. She will 
be able to make any of the ^Esop's Fables many fold as effective in the 
primary school than the brief, pithy text can make it. She can give to 
twelve- and fourteen-year-old children a keener insight into the motives, 
issues, and situations of the Trojan War than the best translator of Homer 
could possibly convey. And in all such cases she will really be leading up 
to and paving the way for the later adult appreciations through which 
our world-known masterpieces will be opened to the minds and hearts of 
the children as they develop. It is true that to the adult whose tastes have 
been developed by long and friendly touch mth good books the story-teller 
must give place to the story-writer and the poet. But to say that this is 
true in the case of grammar school children is to assume that they are 

(22) 



already equipped with full-fledged power of literary appreciation. This 
is no less than to say that the children already have that which we are 
bending our energies to give them, and which under present conditions we 
have been unable to give them in eight years of school work. No child 
springs at once or by inspiration into a love for books. It is, therefore, the 
purpose of the teacher as a story-teller to start him right in his develop- 
ment; to give him the heart of the storj- or the poem, to make its great 
characters and situations live in his imagination ; to break down the barrier 
set by the form of the masterpiece; and thus to put him in the way 
whereby he may attain at length to the new values and richer flavors which 
the masterpiece may hold. 

PRESENTATION OF THE TEXT. 

In cases where the masterpiece is of such a character as to warrant its 
presentation to the class in text form this should be done after the content 
has been fully and graphically presented by the teacher, or, in some cases, 
after a brief introductory explanation of its purport has been made. The 
text should then be read by the teacher to the class, not hy pupils in rotation. 
This gives the author a decent chance to have his message delivered. It 
is absolutely essential if appreciation of the beauty and force of the 
selection is to be brought home to the children. As this point has been 
touched upon in discussing the state of our present method, it need not 
be amplified here. It should be remembered that the omission of class oral 
reading in literature need not mean the omission of any part of the 
necessary oral reading work of the pupils. It does mean that the teaching 
of oral reading can not be well done or even attempted during the literature 
hour without defeating the ends for whose attainment the hour was 
presumably devoted. Teach oral reading as much as you please and to 
the attainment of such proficiency as may be desired. But don't try to 
teach it while your principal aim is to touch the hearts of children by 
opening them to the emotional call of some rare old story. 

CLASS ACTIVITY IN LITERATURE. 

The pupils should follow the teacher's reading with their texts, in eases 
where they are to be supplied with texts. Thus they are brought into 
direct touch with the form of the masterpieces so considered. But neither 
at this stage of the presentation nor in the earlier stage of the narration 
by the teacher should they be inactive. In every turn of the story, in almost 
every sentence of the text, lies an opportunity' for a stimulating question, 
and a quickening answer from the class. Discussions of motives, conclusions 
as to probable results, expression of hopes and feelings, shrewd forecasting 
of the next step, answers to semi-rhetorical questions,- — all these and a score 
of other opportunities will be ready at the teacher's hand and will serve 
to keep at white heat the interest of the class. It should be remembered 
that a passive class is emotionally and mentally an unproductive class 
when compared with a group of children whose hands flash into the air 
and whose bodies are ever ready to start from their seats. 

(23) 



By means of this cooperative class activity the teacher will attain several 
results that should be present if the best work is to be done : 

(1) A marked degree of mental alertness will accompany the progress of 
the work. 

(2) The emotional reactions of the children will be made deeper and 
more intense. 

(3) It will be impossible unconsciously to fail to make some point clear 
or to dwell too long upon other points. 

(4) It will mean not only a richer but a more lasting appreciation of 
the selection by the class. 

(5) It will afford a perfect measure of just what the class is really getting 
from the work. 

It must not be understood that this class activity is to be a product of the 
formal books-closed quiz method. It should never be a bar to the progress 
of the interpretations or take the form of a check to the- unfolding meaning 
of the selection. It should lead on to new points, quicken new feelings, 
establish new associations, arouse fresh and constructive ideas. In this 
phase of the work the highest usefulness of the teacher as interpreter and 
inspirer of interpretation will be found. Through it the power of a great 
and fascinating art may be developed by her and given expression. 

MEMORY WORK IN LITERATURE. 

Nothing should be prescribed for memorization before the beauty of its 
expression has made a successful appeal to the hearts of the pupils. It 
will be found, naturally enough if the work is well done, that the class will 
appreciate most keenly the fragments and selections that have won their 
way into the memories of the rest of mankind. Expression of this special 
appreciation should be induced (never compelled) from time to time and 
especially when the selection is finished. Memorization may then be 
asked of those parts recei\ang general class consent as worth remembering, 
and the process will then have become an almost involuntary reaction of 
the beauty of the lines. 

LITERARY KNOWLEDGE AND THE CUMULATIVE REVIEW. 

It is no secret that the graduates of many of our literature classes are 
almost as deficient in their knowledge of commonly current literary fact 
as they are free from true literary appreciation. Graduates of our schools 
do not know who wrote IvanJioe or when that hero lived or w^hat a knight 
was. They have forgotten that Evangeline came from Acadia and that 
Horatius was a Roman and lived a long time ago. They do not remember 
that Snow-hoimd was written of life on a New England farm. They get 
the story of Damon and Pythias mixed up with the story of the sword of 
Damocles, — if, haply, they know anything about either. Nor may we 
ever be sure of permanent accuracy on these and a host of similar staple 
literary facts by one presentation of the stories and selections involving 
them, no matter how skillfully that presentation may be made. Something 

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special should be done, therefore, to insure the permanence in the pupil's 
memory of such literary knowledge as Mali prove of value to him. 

This may be done in the following- manner : When all the work of 
interpreting a selection has been completed the teacher should hold a brisk 
review of the various scraps of knowledge concerning it which are worth 
holding in mind. These should be brought up for further review at the 
beginning of each period in literature, and to them should be added the 
facts selected as worth retaining in mind when each successive selection 
is finished. The review thus becomes cumulative and systematic, and the 
literary knowledge that it wishes to make hard and fast in the pupil's 
memory is thus conserved. 

For two reasons a special portion of each period should be formally given 
over to this work. First, so as to insure its being sj^stematically done ; for 
without system the idea will come to naught. Second, so as to set this 
work of reviewing and fixing the facts Avorth permanent memorization as 
far from the regular method in literature as possible. The teacher should 
keep in mind the fact that the cumulative review work and its method 
should have no part in the presentation and interpretation of the selection ; 
that it is not a method of teaching literature, but merely a very formal 
device for tacking down for permanent possession a few facts which have 
already been presented and illuminated in the regular work of the literature 
hour. 

Each of the selections treated in this bulletin is followed by a list of 
such literary facts involved in it as should be wrapped up in the cumula- 
tive review. The cumulative review questions of the first selection must 
not be dropped as the content of the review grows. They should come 
up regularly for recall until the whole course is finished. This will keep 
the review work truly cumulative and will insure its efficiency in establish- 
ing in the pupil's mind a useful and permanent fund of literary facts. 
Five minutes at the beginning of each period of literature work will be 
adec[uate time for holding the review drill in the case of classes which have 
iiad only a few selections to contribute facts to their reviews. 

A PRACTICABLE, NOT AN IDEAL COURSE. 

The selections whose treatment has been outlined in the following pages 
are not presented as an ideal course of study in literature. Some of them 
should not be in the grammar school at all, and at least twenty other 
selections equal in value to the best among them should be taken up with 
similar thoroughness if the course is to be all that it should be. The aim of 
the following work has been rather to formulate the nucleus of a course 
out of materials now in use which will yield substantial even if not ideal 
values. 

WHICH SHALL IT BE ? 

The selections chosen are not new in our grammar schools. All of them 
have been widely used for years. In some schools they have been painful 
ordeals through which dull-eyed classes have been goaded. In such schools 

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the teacher's work has been drudgery and her lot a bitter one. To her 
there has not come the joy of seeing- the emotional life of her pupils unfold 
under the influence of the work. She has never enteri'd with them into 
the rich land of promise that lies so near at hand. 

In other schools and under wise courses of study these selections have 
yielded values that will ahvays live in the awakened hearts of the children. 
In such schools the teacher's work has been a delight and a blessing, and 
this not only to the class but to herself. To her has come the teacher's 
reward; for she has seen the lives of her pupils enriched and knows that 
she had a share in it. In her literature class have been no dull eyes. No 
dreary hours profitless and without hope of profit have been endured. 
Instead, she has led her children into a noble company where they have met 
the best that men have done and thought and felt. It is with the hope that 
this may be more commonly and more abundantly realized,— to the end that 
our boys and girls may more fully share the rich literary inheritance that 
has been prepared for them,— that this bulletin has been set in order. 



(•^<-.) 



HORATIU5 AT THL BRIDGL. 



General Remarks and Sug-g-estions. 

This story deserves a place in the grammar grade course in literature for 
the following reasons : 

1. It is known by all commonly well educated people. 

2. It goes far toward giving useful ideas concerning old Roman ideals 
of conduct and the times in which they flourished. 

3. It is constantly referred to by w^ay of allusion and stock figures of 
speech. 

4. It is a stimulus arousing a number of desirable emotions. Among 
these may be instanced: admiration of Horatius for his willingness to 
sacrifice home and safety and even life if necessary for the safety of his 
city: admiration for the loyalty of the hero to his daily duty, the task of 
keeping the bridge; a desire to see every one love the state as Horatius 
d^d : a feeling that service rendered to the state makes for true worth and 
leads to true fame. 

5. Its situations are simple and intensely dramatic and so are especially 
adapted to the appreciations of children. 

6. Children may be led easily and naturally to assume the emotional 
attitudes called forth by those situations. Loyalty to home and city, hatred 
of cowards, admiration for physical bravery in the fight and in the feat of 
strength and skill, exultation in the triumph of one patriot over many 
enemies, — these primitive reactions are strong and early active in every one 
and their experience comes unforced to boys and girls who hear the story 
well presented. 

7. There is nothing so fit as a ringing, swinging ballad to lead boys and 
girls into an enjoyment of poetic forms, and no form of poetry so easy for 
the teacher to read with feeling. Long ago the race first rose to an appre- 
ciation of poetry by the lilt and cadence and sturdy pulse of the ballad 
melody, and experience proves the same process a most natural one in 
developing the appreciations of children. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The story of Horatius should be preceded by the following legends: 
Komulus and Remus ; The Tarquins and their expulsion from Rome ; The 
Judgment of the Consul Brutus. 
References to the above : 

Guerber: Story of the Eomans; pp. 22-27; 58-81. 
Haaren and Poland : Famous Men of Borne; pp. 9-63. 
Plutarch's Lives: Romulus. 

• 27) 



First, tell the stoiy of Romulus and Remus: how they were exposed to 
die ; how they were saved by the wolf ; how they grew up as sturdy moun- 
tain shepherds; and how, finally, they founded the city of Rome. 

Then a word should be said of the Tarquin kings: how they ruled in 
Rome until the people arose and drove them out because of their tyranny. 

Next, sketch the story of the Consul Brutus : hoAv he was the first magis- 
trate chosen by the people to rule and protect them after the Tarquins were 
driven out ; how his two sons, dearly loved by their father, became traitors 
to their city and plotted to let the Tarquins and their forces in; how the 
plot was discovered and the two young traitors brought to trial; and how 
the stem old Roman father as judge set aside his love for his boys because 
of his love for the state and condemned them to death. This in itself is a 
tale well worth the time of a full lesson, for it has taken a place in the 
staple culture of our time. But beyond that- by far is its educational worth 
in bringing the class to feel the full force of Brutus 's high devotion to 
state. The decision that he made every one must make in some degree; 
and the standards of life to-day demand, as they did in the day of Brutas, 
that the common welfare shall be held more sacred than family and per- 
sonal interests. If the teacher can draw the old Roman holding court 
seated in his high seat, surrounded with lictors and guards; if she can 
show what passed through liLs mind as his two boys were dragged before him, 
surrounded by witnesses who proved them to be the deadly enemies of the 
city and the welfare of all its citizens; how he thought, first of their child- 
hood and training and of his plans for them, and then thought of the hard- 
won freedom of the city and the laws that were made to preserve it ;— if the 
teacher can make the scene real, even down to the flagstones, the axes of the 
lictors, the appeals for mercy from all sides, and finally the grim lines on 
the consul's face as he thought of the fate of his state hanging in the bal- 
ance;— if this can be done, and done properly, the judgment may well l)e 
left to the class. Put the class in Brutus 's place and let them return the 
verdict under the guidance of questions and illustration. This story will 
then have been no mere tale, but a personal experience with them, and they 
will have taken the emotional attitude that civilized society demands of 
them. 

The legends of Romulus and Remus, the Tarquins and their expulsion, 
and the judgment of Brutus, should take up two full lesson units. They 
are worth telling for their own sake and at the same time they lay the 
scene, give the cue, and strengthen the motives for the action that follows, — 
the story of Horatius at the Bridge. 

In presenting the story of Horatius the preceding events should be 
brought down to the opening action of the poem in which Porsena plans to 
restore the Tarquins to power. 

Then the teacher should tell the story, closely following but not referring- 
to or reading from the ballad. 

The following situations should be emphasized : 

1. The plans of Porsena : Here should be drawn the anger of that prince 
over the fate of the Tarquins, the summoning of his forces, and the favora- 

(28) 



ble predictions of his prophets. It will not do to tell this or any part of 
the story in a dull or slipshod way. Porsena should be set out as a brave 
prince, ruler of a rich land, and friend of the Tarquins. This friendship 
and the danger he felt from his southern rival, Rome, are ample motives for 
his resolution. The gathering of the forces should not be blown over in a 
sentence, such as, ' ' And so he ordered all his lords, and friends, and soldiers 
to meet together on a day." Such a statement means to the class a scant 
tithe of what is meant by a spirited description of how the messenger was 
summoned, given his orders (in direct discourse), and rode forth to watch- 
tower and stronghold, mountain village and valley, farms, — and of how 
lords and soldiers, tradesmen and farmers, dropped their work, seized their 
arms, and hurried to the great camp outside of Clusium. 

Neither should the favorable prophecy of the prophets be dismissed 
with a mere feeble mention. Make it a picture : Porsena in his royal robes, 
attended by brave lords from all over the country, sits in the council hall to 
hear the word that means so much to him as it is pronounced by the thirty 
wise old men. Describe the ancient prophets as your mind sees them, per- 
haps in black robes, each carrying a sacred scroll covered with strange 
characters. While the details suggested here are probably of as little 
importance as any involved in the remaining situations of the story, they 
have been set forth to illustrate this point,— a flat, bald, diluted statement 
of a situation will never suffice. Each miLst be detailed and exploited 
in proportion to its significance in the story. Much must be left to the 
teacher in this, both because of the limitations of space and because no two 
imaginations construct scenes in just the same v/a.y. 

2. The fear at Rome and the flight of the country people into the city r 
Take the details as given in the poem and put especial spirit into the vivid 
scene of the refugees pouring in through the city gate. 

3. The terrifying advance of the Tuscan host : ' ' The line of burning 
villages";— "Every hour some horseman came with tidings of dismay"; — 
"Nor house nor fence nor dovecote";— "Astur hath stormed Janicu- 
lum";— "The bridge must straight go down";— each of these is the cue 
for a mental picture, and each should be explained to the extent of its 
meaning. Through the vivid presentation of crisp details and with the help 
of other details suggested by the poem and by imagination each pupil 
becomes in fancy an eyewitness of the terror of the Romans and the destruc- 
tion wrought by the Tuscans. 

Here should be introduced a chart or map showing the city walls, the 
river, the bridge with a narrow pass at its farther end, Janiculum the 
fortress outpost beyond the river, the coast line, and Clusium. It should 
be drawn as the teacher talks, each place revealing itself on the map when 
referred to in the story and hence when under the stress of immediate 
importance. 

■4. How Horatius and his two companions stepped forth to hold the 
bridge : The teacher should be constantly on the watch to keep the class 
in the telling by suggestion and discussion, -and here is an excellent occa- 
sion for vigorous class activity. 

(20) 



First when it is seen that tlie Tuscans will be over the bridge before it 
can be torn down, the question arises, ' ' What was to be done ? How could 
the city be saved?" Perhaps no one will see the correct answer; but each 
will have some plan or other, or at least something to say about the hope- 
lessness of all plans. 

Then when Horatius offers to solve the desperate problem, we have the 
natural questions, ' ' Why did he wish to take such a risk ? " " What would 
probably happen to him?" "What would be the loss if he were killed?" 
(His own life and the happiness of his wife and child.) "What could be 
■gained by his act?" Don't leave out the detail that he was the regular 
keeper of the gate, whose duty it was to guard it well. Here is one of the 
mere handful of great devotions to public duty that the race has produced 
and clung to in memory, and the value of the story will largely depend upon 
its dramatic presentation and upon the class making the choice, standing 
the test, with Horatias. When he asks who will stand with him at the 
bridge's head, let the class see the full meaning of his appeal. — death and 
service to the state on one hand, safety and selfish prudence on the other. 
And then let them say whether or not volunteers would be found for the 
work, and what sort of men such volunteers Avould be if, peradventure, 
some were to be found. 

5. How the dauntless three held l)aek the host : The teacher should 
follow the stirring account in the poem in each of the several duels to be 
described. When Sextus appears and plans to attack, the teacher should 
tell w^hat needs to be known about him : that he was a son of Tarquin, cruel 
and selfish; that he had been before his expulsion from the city the cause 
of the death of one of the most beautiful and most respected women of 
Eome; and that the Romans hated him more than any other in the host. 
His conduct throughout should be shown as that of a cowardly, cruel 
wretch, willing to bring about no end of suffering for his own advancement. 

6. Horatius left alone : This situation is heightened by the explanation 
that the hero was not thinking of the pulling down of the bridge and of the 
ending of his own danger, but only of the duty that lay before him. 
Bring out without fail the vain desire of Herminius and Lartius to recross 
the river again to help him in his need. 

7. The safe return of Horatius and the joy of the people: What was 
he to do when left alone before the enemy? This is the question that 
brings to its climax the situation of Horatius alone before the army of 
Porsena with a raging river behind him. Let the class answer it. Why 
not surrender? Why not destroy himself? Why not stand and fight it 
out? His bold resolution to swim back to safety and the details of its 
execution may well be based on a liberal paraphrase of the poem. Of 
course he bore back his armor, for to a Roman no disgrace was keener 
than to lose sword and shield to the enemy. (Why?) Here Lars Porsena 
is seen as a thorough sportsman and a great-hearted enemy. Ask the 
class how Lars Porsena felt when he saw the bridge fall. Then develop, 
by questions, the generous admiration he felt for Horatius struggling with 
tlie flood for his life. 

(30) 



The joy of the people and the rewards heaped upon Horatius conclude 
the story. Most of all bring out the fact that a fair name was not the 
least of the rewards : that his name stood as a motto and as a moral to his 
nation. 

When through telling the story stir up class interest in the questions : 

1. How do you like the story? Why? 

2. What sort of people were the Romans? How do you know? 

3. What was the bravest act in the whole story ? (It makes little difference 
whether the resolution of Horatius or some lesser deed is decided upon. 
The point desired is to strengthen the admiration of the class for sound 
conduct by getting an expression in its favor.) 

4. Why did Horatius take such a desperate chance? If the tale is well 
told there will be no need to do more than to throw out suggestions and 
hints in order to keep the class keenly alive through the telling and in 
the discussion of interest points afterwards. 

This telling of the story will take two lesson units. At its conclusion the 
class will be interested in its train of events. Then is the time to introduce 
them to the poem in which the story becomes thrice stirring. 

There seems to be a common notion that children hate to hear a story 
twice and that to tell a tale first and then give it to the youngsters in 
poetic form would be to kill all interest and to incite the class to rebellion. 
With some stories this is true; like shallow wells they are easily sucked 
dry. Such stories come and go at each groan of the printing press, and no 
one is much the better or worse for them. But the stories that last ana 
that hold fast root in the deepest emotions of the race, yield their charm 
not once but many times to our affections ; and like good music grow better 
and richer with each repetition. Besides, it is more than possible that 
children who have been stuffed on the husks of literary forms and the 
analytical siftings of English critics; who know definitions for seven kinds 
of figures of speech ; who can classify fourteen kinds of versification : 
who know the age at which Macaulay read Latin, and who have worn their 
books to limp tatterdom in the home-study hunt for allusions, — it is more 
than possible that such children will be glad to turn fi*om this blood-drying 
work, even at the cost of hearing a good story twice. It is not only more 
than possible, it is a positive certainty. Not only will they be glad to hear 
it twice, but even twenty times at proper intervals, if it lie a story of the 
first water. And such a one certainly is the story of Horatius. It is not 
a hothouse story, raised and sheltered from the world "s cold blasts ; nor a 
school-made masterpiece : neither has it been coddled, bolstered and scien- 
tifically reared into some sort of rare ripe popularity by analysts or critics 
or learned specialists. It has lived because it has a good grip on the 
hearts of people, — common people who sleep well o' nights without knowing 
much about the difference between end-stopped and carried-over verses, and 
who go softly through life without knowing the philologic pedigree of the 
words they say or read. Once the teacher has made the story clear, once its 
scenes have become real, its motives and acts vivid, there will be no murmur 
from the children when the presentation of the poem, which is simply the 

(31) 



tale interpreted by a master and set to rhythm, is made to follow the telling 
of the story. 

It is easy to prove this in any class room. But no such proof is required 
by any one who thinks about the proposition for the second time. Such 
a one will remember how much richer and fuller of meaning all first-class, 
able-to-survive, narrative poetry is when the plot of the story in its setting 
is first known. Rohin Hood Ballads, Sheridan's Ride, Columbus, The 
"Revenge" are of this type, and illustrations common to our experience 
might be multiplied almost indefinitely. Not only a second time but even 
a third and a fourth and a tenth time do we read them with unfolding 
understanding. It is this unfolding understanding in a thing so rich 
with meaning or so charged with feeling as to hold reserves of pleasure 
for us, that gives the deepening interest and makes for the story a place 
among those that live. 

Another consideration, however, is quite sufficient to place the teacher 
who wishes results to first tell the story of Horatius as a story and then 
present it as a poem. All normal children have potentialities of poetic 
appreciation, but no child springs at once into a full-fledged exercise of 
it. Even the simplest poetry is full of odd words, curious twists and turns 
in sentence structure, unusual constructions, and the new and confusing 
emphasis of rhythm. Besides, in the finished product of poets we have 
a wealth of imagery, a looseness of construction, and a latitude of word 
applications to which our tastes must gradually grow. It is well, therefore, 
to start the pupil in the development of his poetic appreciation with the 
momentum guaranteed him by an interest in and a knowledge of what 
the poem is about. With this done through a skillful telling of the story, 
it remains for the teacher to make the poetic setting of the tale yield its 
values in making strong and deep and clear the appreciation of the hearers. 

After the telling of the story the poem should be read to the class. But 
this does not mean that it should be read through without a pause. On 
the other hand, the teacher should stop and interpret at almost every comma. 
If it is worth being read it is worth being understood, and it will not be 
understood without this interpretation. All in all, the interpretations 
will take far more time than the reading. This is especially true as so 
much of it will be in the form of leading questions thrown out to the 
class. Keep the class alive with living questions. This is not only a test of 
their interest, but it is also a generator of it. When an interpretation or 
appreciative comment has been gained from the class by a series of wedge 
questions, it is often necessary to read again the part interpreted. So, 
also, it is frequently desirable after such an interruption to drop back to 
the last break in the poem to re-read all that intervenes. Thus the process 
of reading the poem is in reality a reading and re-reading, accompanying 
a constant running fire of parenthetical interpretations, explanations, illus- 
trations, and comments drawn from the class. The reading should weave 
back and forth through and through it all, thus giving narrative unity to 
the story and poetic beauty to its expression. 

This particular poem is in parts simply swamped with references. Do 

(32) 



not permit the children to look up any of them. Such as the class can 
help clear up under the suggestion of shrewd questioning should be thus 
brought out, and the rest should be explained forthwith by the teacher. 
Many of them are of use only in giving cumulative strength to some general 
impression. Those found in series in stanzas four to eight, and twenty-three, 
are of this sort and may be explained as a class. Thus, after reading stanza 
twenty -three, the teacher might say. ''Who are all these people?" "Yes, 
they are friends of Lars Porsena ; — and now you see they are ready to do 
what? Yes. to fight for him and to conquer Rome. See how many they 
were and how the Romans were able to recognize them.'' Then re-read the 
stanzas again so as to emphasize their excellent qualities of form. 

The teacher should remember in reading this poem that it is a ballad, 
and that the swinging and ringing quality of its versification must be 
brought out in her presentation of it. It may be bad form for members of 
"Browning Clubs" to repeat or read poetry in a sing-song cadence; just 
as it may be in bad taste for a gourmet to dine on roast beef and browned 
potatoes; — but the boy and girl have nothing in common with tastes so 
delicately developed. Unless some generous acknowledgment is made to the 
rhythm, poetry becomes to them nothing more than hard and unnatural 
prose. Why is it then that in all our schools a general hue and cry is raised 
when a pupil dares to put the natural beat of the music of the poetry 
into his oral expression of it? The writer, for one, does not know, but 
he strongly suspects that it is the combined work of the specialist in elocu- 
tion and the specialist in literary analysis. The former through long years 
of practice has developed an art that is lusty enough to unhorse and trample 
into the dust the art of the poet author ; and the latter has developed such 
wisdom as leads him to see the teaching and study of poetry as an out- 
pouring of erudition concerning poetic forms, rather than a thing to sway 
and move and charm us. 

It takes us a long time to get educated clean aw^ay from a love for an 
expression of the melody in verse, and when we do, perhaps even a short 
time before Ave do, it is wise for us to quit trying to make poetry pleasing to 
children. 

Memory Work. 

When the poem has been finished, stimulate class expression as to which 
of its stanzas are the most beautiful. Then require the memorization of 
those parts, (not to exceed twenty lines,) thus selected by the pupils. 
Care should be taken, of course, to guide this selection so that it will be well 
made. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What city is said to have been founded by Romulus and Remus. 

2. Who were the Tarquin kings ? 

3. How did the Consul Brutus show his love for the state ? 

4. Briefly tell the story of Horatius at the Bridge. 

3— bx:l.5 (33) 



5. Why do we admire Horatius'/ 

6. What poem has been written about this brave act of Horatius, and by 
whom was it written ? 

7. Give from memory such selections from the poem as you like best. 

Fop the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Reading Habits," p. 100.) 

Other Well-known Works of Macaulay: 

Battle of Lake Begillns. 

Virginia. 

(Both of these, together with Horatius, are to be found in Macaulay 's 
Lays of Ancient Rome.) 
General Reading: 

Yonge: A Book of Golden Deeds. 

Baldwin : An American Book of Golden Deeds. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Shoidd Know. 

Radford: King Arthur and His Knights. 



(34) 



RIP VAN WINKLL. 



General Remarks and Suggestions. 

Kip Van Winkle is a name familiar to all of us. We have heard the 
story, met allusions based upon it, seen pictures illustrating scenes from 
it, and some more fortunate than the rest may even have seen Joe 
Jefferson acting in the title role. The personality of Rip has become real 
to us, — almost as real as to his old cronies and the \allage children, and 
almost as well liked by us as hy them. The story therefore deserves 
a place in a literature course that has proposed to bring the pupil into 
touch with the literature that has gained a firm hold on the affections of 
the great mass of people of conmion culture. Not only as a story should the 
pupils meet the legend, but as a masterpiece as well. Washington Irving 
has made the tale one of our best short stories and his name has become 
inseparably connected with it. It is a double appreciation for the story 
and for Irving 's excellent expression of it that the teacher should develop 
in her pupils ; and this is the whole object of the presence of this title in 
the course of stud3^ 

It may be well to emphasize the fact that the work is not to be made i\ 
formal or analytical study of literary fornl. Thousands of people live 
happily with a respectable working knowledge and hearty appreciation of 
the adventures of Rip Van Winkle, without knowing whether its diction 
is characterized by Anglo-Saxon or Latin derivatives, and without inquiry 
as to the exact principles upon which the author has founded his paragraphs. 
The language class is the place to teach whatever the pupils need to know 
of figures of speech, rhetorical devices, ordinances of sentence structure, 
and all else that may be demanded by standards of utility or tradition in 
the line of analysis of literary form. In the literature class should be 
the work of winning the pupils to a rich appreciation of the story as a good 
story: of giving them friendly touch with its characters, contact with its 
situations, and sheer delight in it as a good thing to be well enjoyed. 

Rip Van Winkle should not be made a grindstone for pointing moral 
lessons. Indeed, to be the basis of homily the story should either work 
out a regeneration of Rip or else bring him to some fit punishment for his 
weaknesses. As a matter of fact it does neither. On the other hand, it 
is much to be feared that a large share of our pleasure in it is due to the 
fact that we see in the shiftless Dutch colonist a well and wisely berated 
phase of our own natures; — a phase that does us no credit and wins for 
itself no admiration, but which gives us no little pleasure and which we 
are secretly glad to see triumphant in the person and exploits of the hero 
of our tale. So in the light of the ethical standards of these busy days, 
when energy and devotion to duty and clearness of purpose are the, guiding 

(35) 



lights, the ethical core of the story is highly unorthodox ; and while we 
enjoy it quietly there is no need to make it positivel\' bad by undue 
emphasis. Neither let us tear the narrative to tatters in order to get from it 
forced moral issues. It is not meant to be used as a parable, and even if 
it were the best way to win meaning from it would be to tell it for all it 
is worth as a good story. This caution may be purely redundant. Never- 
theless, note writers and writers of introductions to school classics are so> 
ingenious in introducing ethical philosophy of the intrusive sort into- 
everything, that the teacher may well be doubly Avarned against following- 
such a tendency in handling this selection. It is not moral philosophy and 
ethical deduction that she is to expound; her task lies rather in making- 
real, Advid, and full of charm a quaint old story that has lived for the 
enjoyment of generations. 

The pupils must be brought to see the sleepy old colonial town Avith 
its, pleasant neighboring farms and shining riA'er and blue-shaded mountains, 
behind it all. They must enter the home of Rip and feel the humor and 
thin relief of pathos behind it. Above all they must come to knoAv the 
gaunt, kindly, shiftless Rip Van Winkle, loved by all, laughed at and 
scolded by all, cjuick to help CA^ery one save himself and his. All this can 
not be done by making the selection a reading lesson. The teaching of the 
mechanics of oral reading is a A-ery important piece of Avork; so important. 
indeed, that it should be the special object of a course carefully Avoi-ked 
out. But the literature course is as different and apart from this reading- 
course as is the work in spelling or arithmetic or music. The emotional 
experiences through Avhich the literature may lead the pupils, the apprecia- 
tions AA'hich it may leave Avith them, these are its objects; and one of the 
surest Avays not to attain them is to make the AA^ork a reading exercise.^ 
IrAdng's framing of the tale should, of course, be brought before the class:. 
but not in detached, misread fragments, riddled by formal criticism.. 
Children A\dll not enjoy the story as a good story Avell told, if it be made a 
formal reading lesson. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

" The teacher should first be at one Avith Irving in his vicAV of life in the 
Dutch village on the Hudson. She must see the scene described in the 
first tAvo paragraphs; must see it Aavidly and in colors and Avith intimate 
clearness as to characteristic details. Ajid not only must the teacher thus 
see the old toAvn, but it must be a pleasing visualization, Avarmed Avith genial 
appreciations, tinged Avith the colors of real experience. Some knoAvledge 
of old colonial Avays and scenes Avill help the teacher into the right mental 
environment. Half-forgotten pictures should be recalled. — pictures of 
a rambling village lane; of the roadside inn, sheltered by spreading trees: 
of stepped-up house fronts; of easy-going Dutch with silver-buckled shoes: 
and knee bows on their AA'ide pantaloons; of round, placid faces holding- 
old-fashioned pipes and surmounted by broad-brimmed. toAvering hats : 
of bowling greens; of ale tankards; of dusty travelers alighting before 
a boAving landlord in Avhite apron and floAving pigtails; of the villaoe 



^vinamill oil the hill. Fortunately the author has done so much to develop 
the local color of the village and home of Rip Van Winkle that the teacher 
mav secure a very good working appreciation of the essential conditions of 
the time and place by merely following his hints. Given a fairly fertile 
imagination and Irving 's sketch lines, then the visual situations of the 
storv and the surrounding atmosphere of the time and place become real. 
The following settings should be warmly visualized in the teacher's mmd: 

1 The oeneral scenic background of the whole story : river, village half 
concealed by trees, meadows and farm plots, and the hazy, shadow-grooved 
mountains in the background. 

2 The main street of the village. 

8. Rip Van Winkle's homestead and its contrast with neighboring farms. 
4. The interior of Rip's home during some unhappy domestic wrangle. 

5 The scene in front of the village inn. 

6. The mountain solitudes through which Rip wandered with his dog 

and gun. . 

7. The ravine and hidden amphitliealer where he met with strange 

company. 

8 The scene of his awakening. 

9. The various scenic details involved in the changes experienced by him 

on his return to the village. ^ • ^ ^i, 

\ mere knowledge of facts involved in the above is not sufficient: the 
scenes themselves must stand out in clear-cut mental pictures. Without 
these visualizations the charm of the story will be lost to teacher and class. 
\ keen appreciation of the human nature side of the story is aLso a pre- 
TCfiuisite to good interpretation by the teacher. She must become m fancy 
an intimatelv interested spectator of the village life and of Rip Van 
li^inkle's particular iovs, sorrows, motives, sentiments, and mood.s. bhe 
must see the change from sleepy Dutch village to bustling American town 
that twentv years had wrought. And tlirough all she must follow with 
sensitive response the whims of humor and of pathos that bind the whole 

together. 

The method herein su-gested for use in presenting the tale to the class 
assumes that pupils are to be supplied with texts. This seems advisable 
"because of the first-hand contact thus to he gained by them with the story 
as told bv a master story-writer. Acquaintance with Irving's Rip Van 
Winkle if it be friendlv acquaintance, will result in pleasant recurrences to 
the text by pupils in later years; and thus a dividend-bearing addition will 
have been made to the pupil's fund of literary capital. Besides, it will be 
a factor in leading him into a voluntary acquaintance with other and 
similar stories, and especially into touch with other stories by the same 
afuthor. This last consideration makes it advisable when selecting texts 
to choose an edition containing several other good short stories by Irymg. 
The teacher should take the opportunity to lead as many as possible ot the 
pupils to an interest in these stories as purely supplementary reading. (See 
chapter entitled ''Good Reading Habits," pp. 100-103.) 

The class work should begin with a brief discussion of the times m winch 

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the plot of the story is laid. Reference should be made to the voyage of 
Henry Hudson up the Hudson River, the settlement of the valley by Dutch 
colonists, the quiet easy life in the old Dutch towns, and of how the bustling 
American life with its elections and swiftly changing conditions came in 
with the Revolution. The time may be somewhat clearly fixed by allusion 
to the fact that Indians still went on the warpath in New York State. The 
general setting of the story should be fixed by a sketch of the life in the 
Dutch colonies and a description of the village of the story. Instead of 
outlining the whole of the narrative in this preliminary sketch, it will be 
well merely to describe the principal characters, and to give a suggestive 
inkling of what the plot is about. With this end in view the pupils should 
be led into a friendly interest in Rip and his affairs. A few hints should 
be thrown out to arouse anticipatory interest in the adventures and sur- 
prises that the plot develops. This done, the pupils are ready to open texts 
with the teacher and to follow her as she reads and interprets. 

Method of Inteppretation. 

1. Unfamiliar words: Such words as present difficulties to the pupils 
should be explained briefly by the teacher, or where possible by comments 
by the class. The explanation should detract as little as possible from the 
progress of the story. 

Examples: gabled fronts; galligaskins: volley; virago; rubicund; sages; 
wistfully; musing; vague; antique; jerkin; alacrity; azure; transient: 
amphitheater; incomprehensible; doublet; fowling-piece; roysterers; 
gambol; famished; misgave; metamorphosed; scepter; doling; jargon: 
akimbo ; austere ; cronies. 

2. Allusions and references : A considerable number of geographical 
and historical allusions will need clearing up. This should be done, as in 
the case of new words, with as little digression from the story and as much 
class cooperation as is possible. 

Examples: Hudson River; Kaatskill Mountains; Peter Stuyvesant; Tar- 
tar's lance; George the Third; Flemish paintings; General Washington; 
Congress; Bunker Hill; heroes of seventy-six; Babylonish jargon; Federal 
or Democrat; Stony Point; Hendrick Hudson; "Half Moon." 

3. Situations of strong narrative interest : Emphasis should be placed on 
the following as each arises, to the end that every turn in the plot shall be 
fully understood and enjoyed : ' 

(a) Rip 's habits and disposition. 
(&) His domestic sorrows. 

(c) The encounter with the stranger on the mountainside. 

(d) The adventure in the amphitheater. 

(e) The awakening and the search for the strange revellers. 
(/) Rip as a stranger in his home town. 

(g) His final readjustment to changed conditions. 

4. Visual images : The story is a panorama of vivid pictures which will 
be mentally visualized by the class if the presentation is well done. The 

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following, especially, should be inade clear by the introduction of crisp, 
suggestive detail : 

(a) The sleepy old Dutch town. 

( b ) Rip 's shiftless ways. 

(c) Domestic infelicity in the Van Winkle home. 

(d) The strange revel in the mountains. 

(e) Rip's astonishment on awakening. 

(/) Rip's appearance at the political meeting at the inn. (The busy 
body who leads in Rip's examination deserves especial attention.) 

ig) Rip's return to old habits. (The house of his daughter and the 
bench in front of the inn form the scenes in the last view of our friend.) 

5. Class activity and response : All through the presentation leading 
questions should be thrown out by the teacher in order to keep class interest 
at its best. It should be remembered that the best way of explaining a 
motive is to skillfully lead the pupils into a discussion of it, and the clearest 
interpretation is the one that is largely a result of class contributions. The 
following are indicated as typical occasions for class activity. The watch- 
ful teacher will see others equally as stimulating to clear ideas and to inter- 
est in almost every sentence of the text : 

(a) Comparison of the mountain scenery described in the first paragraph 
with similar scenery in the experience of the pupils, for the purpose of 
making vivid the Kaatskill background of the story. 

(5) What sort of people would you expect to find in the little Dutch 
village described in the second paragraph? Would they be busy, bustling 
folk, or slow-going and contented? 

(c) What do the words in parenthesis, paragraph third, tell about the 
occupant of the house under discussion ? 

(d) What sort of a disposition do you suppose that Rip Van Winkle 
must have had judging from the description in the fourth paragraph? 
Did he have a kind or cross expression on his face? Do you happen to 
know any one like him? Would you be glad to have such a character in 
the neighborhood? 

(e) What sort of a picture do you suppose young Rip made in his 
father's cast-off knee breeches? If he was like his father, do you think 
that his outlandish appearance bothered him very much? 

(/) Why was the company at the inn so congenial to Rip? Have you 
ever met any village sages? What did Dame Van Winkle think of the 
associates of her husband? How do you suppose Rip felt to be routed from 
their company? Which pained him more, his own disgrace or the fact 
that his good friends were involved in the scandal? 

(g) What Avas left for the unhappy man when the inn no longer offered 
refuge from his wife's ratings? Wliat does his kindness to Wolf show 
of his nature? Why was there such a bond of sympathy between Rip 
and Wolf ? Were they in some respects alike ? 

(h) Do you think that Rip enjoyed the view and the pleasant mountain 
surroundings as he rested after his day's hunt? What afterthought dis- 

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turbed his peace of mind? Do you think that he was eager to start for 
home ? 

(0 Why did the dog skulk to Rip's side when the stranger approached! 
Did you ever see a dog behave in that way? What does Rip's readiness 
to help the stranger in carrying the keg tell about him ? AVas Rip a timid, 
overcautious man? How do you suppose he felt when he came upon the 
scene in the amphitheater? What disquieting signs were there? In what 
respect was Rip poorly qualified to act as a cup-bearer? What helped 
him to master his fear and curiosity concerning the strange company ? 

(j) What did Rip think when he found himself awake on the green 
knoll ? What shows that Dame Van Winkle was never far from his 
thoughts? What signs were there that changes had taken place since he 
was last awake? To what did Rip ascribe those changes? Did he have 
any reason to think that he had been out on the knoll more than one night? 
What made his homeward journey an unpleasant prospect to him ? 

(A') Note the various unusual circumstances which he met with on 
his way home. How did he feel as he passed down the village street and 
entered his deserted home? What changes had taken place in the inn? 
Do you think that the new hotel with its sidewalk politicians in front of it 
seemed so pleasant a sight to Rip as the old inn and its bench full of village 
gossips would have seemed? Which picture do you like l^est? Why was 
it that the words of the political speaker were mere jargon to Rip? In 
wiiat state of mind do you think he was as each new confusion seized 
him? What made his statement that he was a loyal subject of the king 
so. irritating to his hearers? What sort of a character Avas the man in 
the cocked hat? Do you like him as well as you do old Nicholas A^edder 
or Rip himself ? What did the people think was the matter with Rip when 
he first began to explain? What made them fear that he was crazy? 

(/) What was so appropriate in the death of Dame Van Winkle? Had 
Rip fared better or worse than his neighbors for his twenty -year sleep? 
Don't you think that after twenty years of sleep he should have been 
thoroughly rested and ready for work? Would you rather that he had 
turned over a new leaf or gone back to his old ways? Was the village in 
an>- way better of? because of his return? Suppose his son-in-law was as 
idle and shiftless as he had been, what would Rip have done for a home? 
Do you think that little Rip,- — old Rip Van Winkle's grandchild, — was 
to turn out as shiftless as his grandfather, and as his uncle. Rip II? 
What was there about the home-raising of this youngest Rip that would 
probably bring him into different habits ? 

(m) Do you like the story? Why? What part is the most interesting? 
Is any of it sad? Find some humorous touches. 

After the story has been told and discussed a few words should be 
given the class to remember concerning the author. This should be limited 
to the facts that .his name was Washington Irving, a famous American 
story-writer, who lived and wrote about eighty years ago. The teacher 
should then call attention to such other sketches by Irving as may be found 
in the text or are otherwise accessible to the class. These should be read 

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voluntarily l)y the pupils outside of class work. Occasional class reports 
maj^ be made by individuals concerning' this reading, and from time to 
time some pupil should be permitted to tell the class the story that has 
specially appealed to him. The teacher should be careful to make such 
reference to this supplementary reading as will stimulate the desires of the 
pupils to enjoy it. A brief introduction to a good story, presented by 
the teacher in the manner of a first installment, will often prove an effective 
lure to the interests of the class. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Briefly sketch the story of Rip Van Winkle. 

2. In what time and place is the plot of the story laid ? 

3. Describe the character and appearance of Rip as you have him in mind. 

4. "Who wrote the story of Rip Van Winkle? 

5. What other stories by Irving have you read? 

6. In what day and land did Irving live and write? 

For the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Readins' Habits." p. 100.) 

Other Well-known Works by Irving : 
The Legend of Sleepy- Hollow. 
Stories selected from the Alliamhra: 

The Adventure of the Mason. 

Legend of the Arabian Astrologer. 

The Moor's Legacy. 

The Rose of the Alhamhra. 

Governor Maneo and the Soldier. 

The Two Discreet Statues. 

The Enchanted Soldier. 
General Reading: 

Grimm : Fairy Stories. 

Arabia)! Niglits' Entertainments. 

Mabie: Legends Every Child Should Know. 

Dickens: Chri.'^tnias Carol. 



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THL 50NG OF HIAWATHA. 



General Remarks and Sug-g'estions. 

This Indian hero story with its interwoven myths and legends occupies a 
prominent place in grammar school courses of study. It is the best adapted 
of all of Longfellow's longer poems for presentation to children. There is, 
in harmony with its subject-matter, a certain simplicity of form, freshness, 
and sincerity of phrasing, and sprightliness of action that bring it easily 
within the appreciations of pupils in the upper grades when properly intro- 
duced to them. From it the teacher should strive to get the following 
results for her class: 

1. It should give the children some knowledge warmly touched with 
feeling for various phases of Indian life. Some knowledge of this aborig- 
inal life is common American lore and no one can be tolerably well 
informed in this direction who is ignorant of the wigwam, hunting habits, 
war customs, dress, diet, and manners of the Indians ; or of the more specific 
customs of the peace pipe, ceremonial dance, medicine making, and picture 
writing. To all this the poem introduces the pupil, and in a way that 
brings out the spectacular and adorns the commonplace so that the whole 
secures a good hold upon the feelings and becomes endowed with the char- 
acteristics of literature. It may be urged at this point by some that Long- 
fellow has portrayed an idealized, gilded Indian life, and that it is M-rong 
to set anything but the barren facts of the ethnologist and anthropologist 
before the impressionable minds of the young. The answer to this is that 
there is much in the poem that gives not only the truth concerning the 
spirit of Indian affairs, but the truth as to their facts as well. Such sifting 
out of the sheer glamour as adult common sense requires will be made by 
the child in good time as he develops. The poem as it stands gives us the 
romance side of the common viewpoint of the "noble red man." History 
is well able to take care of the other side. 

2. It should arouse an appreciation for the form and music of the poem. 
This appreciation should be a very special product of contact wdth The Song 
of Hiawatha because of its clear, smooth-running, chant-like verses, its 
musical cadences and the simple vigor of its imagery. Together with 
Horatius and the old Ballads it has an important place in developing a 
general fondne-ss for poetic form. 

3. The story of Hiawatha takes the pupil a long way toward the enjoy- 
ment of idealized nature poets and story-tellers, and hence into adjustment 
with a large amount of first-class current and standard literature. AVords- 
worth, Shelley, Coleridge, Kipling, Thompson-Seton, Burroughs, and the 
rest, are simply treating of Hiawatha's old friends and their relatives from 
some different angle. 

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4. A number of healthful emotional reactions are given the child in dif- 
ferent situations that afford a basis for ethical discrimination. 

These are the principal results to be attained. But in the way of their 
attainment stand a number of difficulties. In the first place comes the old 
axiom,— the teacher must rejoice in the poem herself if she hopes to get a 
more than skin-deep appreciation in the class. Errors in method of pres- 
entation, too, will destroy its value. It is worse than idle to cut it wp 
into so many lines for this day and that ; to spend time having the class hunt 
up the meaning of words that should be endowed with meaning as quickly 
and quietly as possible by the teacher ; to haggle over the pronunciation of 
hard proper names that should be spoken by the simple rule of harmony to 
i-hythm ; to chase, impale, and classify figures of speech ; or, horrible to sug- 
gest, to have trembling youngsters mutilate and butcher and rend limb 
from limb the cadence and the sense of the beautiful lines in a» paroxysm 
improperly called reading. 

Each day's work should, of course, be carefully prepared by the teacher. 
She should be sure that each lesson unit is a true story unit, Math action and 
situations sufficient to hold the interest of the class and with a definite prog- 
ress in the development of some plot. She should be able to read it with 
expression qualified to bring out its meaning, and should have in mind the 
various points where significant questions, useful discussions and sidelights 
of anecdote, chalk sketch and allusion may most profitably be introduced. 

It was never intended by the author that an Indian mythological glossary 
should be thumbed to dilapidation as a means to the enjoyment of the 
poem. Therefore, he has woven into the poem, and generally in parallel 
construction with the term that needs interpretation, the meaning of 
every new word or phrase. Thus we have, — 

"And the Heron.— the Shu-Shu-Ga." 
' ' The Great Serpent, the Kenabeek, ' ' 
"Glared like Ish-ko-dah, the Comet, 
Ish-ko-dah with fiery tresses," 
and so without number. Each of these interpretations of prominent names 
should be stressed by the teacher with as little flurry and digression as 
possible until the more important ones are readily understood by the class. 
The poem is filled with effective figures of speech ; but the death of their 
literary usefulness is at hand when the teacher starts in to analyze, define, 
and classify them. "When she reads, — 

"And the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin, 
Shut the doors of all the wigwams," 
or,— 

"Till the birch canoe seemed lifted 
High into that sea of splendor. 
Till it sank into the vapors 
Like the new moon slowlj^, slowly 
Sinking in the purple distance," — 
when reading these and other figures of like beauty the teacher should win 

(43) 



for the class a fuller, more vivid meaning' ])eeaiise of the imagery employed 
by the poet. But to stop and deiine each tigure, to berate some one who has 
forgotten a definition, to shake a finger at another who is unable to make 
a correct classification, to hunt for fine distinctions in form, — all this does 
not aid in giving that fuller, more vivid meaning to the class. Most of the 
siiiiple figures of speech in Hiawatha exert their power upon the child 
merely by being well read, or at most by having a short, parenthetical 
ex])lanation thrown in. And the rest should be quietly passed over. Any 
author who uses figures of speech that need elaborate annotation is using 
a useful instrument in a harmful way ; for the purpose of a figure is 
simply to illuminate, to make clear. — visibly clear, — not to cloud or compli- 
cate the meaning. Longfellow in other poems is guilty of many ornate, 
erudite, bookish and farfetched figures which no child or ordinary adult 
can do more than puzzle over. But such figures are in poor taste an\"where, 
and the kindest, most sensible thing to do with them is to pass them in 
silence. Fortunately this poem has few or none of these over-elaborate 
figures. The teacher should keep this in mind : in the literature lesson a 
figure of speech should lie the source of increased enjoyment because it 
makes a meaning more beautiful or more vivid ; and it is never in its 
proper place in such a lesson when it is made the subject of autopsy and 
in(juest. 

Above all do not base the class work on the reading aloud of the poem 
by the children. It is not an exercise in oral reading. No child can do 
more than make it hateful to himself and tiresome to the class by bumping 
along through it in this way. Even if a fair degree of skill could ])e 
attained by each pupil in this oral reading, nevertheless the idea of chopping 
up a story into disjointed fragments delivered, (with many suggestions and 
encouragements on the part of the teacher,) in a succession of errors, in 
varying manners, postures, voices, and styles, is abhorrent to the purpose 
in view, — the winning from it of literary values. Even a good teacher 
with her heart in the work Mill find it necessary to go over the lines at 
least twice in rehearsal before reading those portions to the class, in order 
to get the right swing to each verse and the proper twist to each long- 
proper name. 

Do not punish the class with demands for detailed memory reproduction 
of the story or parts of it. Is there any standard of education known and 
respected among men that makes it necessary for one to remember how 
Kwasind died, or whether Ajadaumo was a beaver, a squirrel, or a buffalo? 
To be sure, the meaning of each sentence and each story must be plain to 
all the class when the part in question is being presented. "Whether or not 
the meaning of what the teacher tells or reads is clear can be tested l)y 
a score of signs of interest "^nd by the way in which the pupils respond to 
interlocutory questions, how they engage in discussions, what they say and 
feel in the story problems that will be threshed out among them under 
the teacher's guidance and cross-questioning. But to put a class to the 
third inquisitorial degree at the end of a story or at the end of the poem 
or at the end of the term with such demands as. "Who was Poh-Puk- 

(441 



Keena '? " " Where did Nokomis come from ? " " Tell the story of Nahma. ' ' 
etc., this Avoiild be the height of the ridiculous were it not so seriously 
damaging to the purpose of the poem in the scheme of literary education. 

Save where other method is specifically suggested, the teacher should 
follow in this work the general plan proposed for the presentation of 
Horatius and Evangeline. That is to say, the story should be introduced, 
told and made clear and interesting. Then the poem should be read, inter- 
preted, and the points of special interest discussed. It is necessary here, 
however, because of the fact that the poem is so long and because it is 
really a series of stories, to deal with each story as a unit. For each story, 
therefore, the introduction, narration and explanation of plot should be 
followed by the reading of the text, interspersed with such interpretation 
and discussion as may be worth while. 

The suggestions that follow are in great part directed toward securing 
class activity during the presentation ; but they by no means exhaust the 
possibilities in that line. Whether telling or reading, the teacher should be 
on the constant lookout for chances to secure interested class response. 

The pupils should be equipjied with the text, and they should follow the 
teacher on their books when she is reading. If it seems advisable for any 
reason to have the class go without texts the methods set forth in the fol- 
lowing suggestions will be found no less applicable to the situation. Famil- 
iai'ity with the printed poem, however, is one of the objects of the work, 
and it is desirable for this reason to have the class equipped with texts. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

Before beginning the work in class the teacher should read the poem 
through. A Avell-illiLstrated edition should be used by her if possible, so 
that the visualizations called up in her mind by the text may be as vivid 
and circumstantial as possible. She must put herself in the attitude of one 
who is to listen to the simple tales of a primitive race whose imaginings 
went fondly out to meet a world unknown. She should make herself rea- 
sonably familiar with Indian ways, for if the life of the myth-makers is; 
known their myths will be more appreciated. Acquaintance Avith the Greek, 
Hebrew, and Norse legends will help her to attain an insight into the spirit 
of myth-making. 

The teacher should begin class work with a discussion in simple terms of 
the origin of the stories found in Hiawatha. The following should be 
brought out in an interesting manner: Among the Indians were many 
stories in which they explained the Avonderful things in nature which they 
saw about them. Thus they made persons or spirits of the seasons, the 
winds, the ice, the river, the forest trees, animals, corn, and all the objects 
that aroused their wonder or strongly affected their affairs. So, too, they 
glorified their heroes and brave leaders. These hero tales grew with each 
generation and clustered more and more distinctly around a few of the 
inost important characters. Many different tribes of Indians possessed such 
old legends and wonder stories. The Ojibways, especially, had a rich 

(45) 



fund of them. These OjibwaA' stories were collected bj' students who 
found that they could learn quite as much about the Indians from them as 
from observation of present customs and ways. And finally came a poet, 
Longfellow, the greatest American poet, who wrapped them all together 
into one beautiful poem called The Song of Hiawatha. 

After an introduction in which the foregoing has been explained and 
amplified to the point of simplicity and cla<?s interest, the teacher should 
read the Introduction to the poem, bringing out its music and the charm of 
its echo-like repetitions. Interpret as often as may be necessary in order 
to make simple meanings clear. In this interpretation work, the desired 
light may generally be brought out from the class by dint of shrewd cpies- 
tions. Such class activity is of triple value, for it insures class interest, 
strengthens the impressions received by the pupils, and makes sure and 
strong their appreciations. It should not take the form of a book-closed 
catechism, but should be rather an intermittent series of questions woven 
into the work and closely identified with the progress made from point to 
point. It should be wrought so as to stimulate and lead on the unfolding 
interest of the pupils. It is plain that here as elsewhere whenever the 
parenthetical comment, interpretation, or discussion by the class has broken 
into the sustained melody of the lines as read, the teacher should go back 
to the last pause in the poem and re-read the section smoothly so as to bring 
out the charm of its expression. 

The main thought to be gathered from the Introduction is that the stories 
to follow are part of the old-time folk-lore of the Indians. But the class 
should also get from it an appreciation for the cadence and harmony of the 
verses. 

The Peace Pipe. 

First sketch the main points in this subdivision of the poem. Explain 
that Gitehe Manito was the Great Spirit or God of the Indians. Show his 
power in the creation of river and river course and his goodness to the 
tribes in bringing peace among them and in promising them a great leader 
and helper. Explain the nature of the Peace Pipe and the Peace Pipe 
Ceremony. Omit none of the bright details of local color and atmosphere, 
such as high crags, deep forests, red pipe-stone clifi^s, war clubs, feathers, 
and buckskin garments. 

Then read the section weaving in all necessary interpretation. Especially 
show how harmoniously the supernatural is interwoven : Thus, the smoke 
from Gitehe Manito 's peace pipe was like the clouds streaming about a 
mountain top; Nokomis was the beautiful falling star; the voice of the 
South Wind was soft and pleasant. It is not meant by this tliat a laborious 
allegory is to be found for all events or characters, but that obvious relations 
of the supernatural to the natural should not be overlooked. 

New Names.— J] nder this head are found here, and in the following sug- 
gestions, such names as occur often enough or prominently enough to war- 
rant the class making a more intimate acquaintance with them. Such 

(46) 



acquaintance will help the pupil to follow the story. It is not to be 
thought, however, that they must be memorized for lasting identification. 
Each such name as it occurs should receive emphasis and repetition, and 
should be worked into the expression of the members of the class. Each in 
turn, as it is met, should be written upon the blackboard and in the case of 
.specially hard words the class should pronounce them in chorus. 
Calumet, the peace pipe ; Gitche Manito ; Dakotahs ; Ojibways. 

The Four Winds. 

Here as elsewhere, save in parts where .special suggestion is made, the 
plan is followed of telling and making clear the story and then of reading 
and interpreting the poem. Minor details and complexities of movement 
should be omitted from the teacher's narrative save Avhere they are impor- 
tant to the sense or vividness of the story. 

The following is a brief outline of the story involved in this part of the 
poem : Mudjekeewis kills the Great Bear of the Mountains and is made the 
AVest Wind and ruler of all the winds for his prowess. The East Wind, 
one of his sons, brings the dawn and wooes and wins the Morning Star. 
The North Wind brings the rigors of winter, and drives southward all 
creatures except Shingebis, the beaver, who builds a warm house, lays in a 
stock of fish, and lauglis at the fury of the winter cold. The story of the 
South Wind and the dandelion needs no interpretation. 

Do not fail to bring out the harmonious attributes of each of the winds. 
Which winds did the Indians like best? Why? Which wind did they 
fear most ? Why ? 

Chalk Sketch: The Beaver's winter house. 

New Names: Mudjekeewis; Wampum; Keewaydin, the West Wind: 
Shingebis, the beaver. There is no need to stress the names of the other 
winds. 

Hiawatha's Childhood. 

The story of the coming of Nokomis, the Falling Star, is one of the most 
beautiful touches in the story and it should be carefully brought out. An 
especial interest, also, is to be found in the education of Hiawatha : the lore 
he gained from Nokomis and his friendship with nature. Emphasize 
Hiawatha's knowledge of the wilderness and his youthful skill as a hunter. 
The .slaying of the deer, according to Indian custom, marked the beginning 
of his manhood. 

Chalk Sketch: 1. Nokomis 's wigwam. 2. Hiawatha shooting the Red 
Deer. 

Neiv Names: Nokomis, the Falling Star; Hiawatha: Gitehe-Gumce, Big- 
Sea-Water; lagoo, the Boaster. 

HlAV^ATHA AND MUDJEKEfEWIS. 

Magic gauntlets and sandals hold an irresistible charm for children and 
should be given due exploitation in the telling. Note, also, the pleasing 
way in which the natural and supernatural intermingle in the fight between 
Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis. 

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Place emphasis npou exploits and incidents showing forth Hiawatha's 
strength and shrewdness. 

Bring ont with full circumstance the beginning of the liero's love for 
Minnehaha. Here begins the love storyof the poem. 

New Name: Minnehaha. 

Hiawatha's Fasting. 

This is the story of how Indians came to possess corn for food, — Mon- 
damin, the friend of mankind. The story may be prefaced by questions 
and answers developing the idea of the importance of corn to the Indians 
and showing what their state was without it. 

Do not try to weave the deeper spiritual meaning into the story. This 
secondary meaning is beyond the appreciations of the class. When reading 
to the class clinch the meaning and sharpen class appreciation by frequent 
questions. The following may serve as illustrations, but they must be 
skillfully woven in and not imposed as a dry quiz or drill : 

1. When Hiawatha says, "Must our lives depend on these things?" 
What was the cause of his complaint? Why were "these things" an 
uncertain food supply? What did he want for his people? 

2. Why was the Great Spirit, the Master of Life, glad to listen to Hiawa- 
tha's prayer? Was it better for him to pray for the welfare of his tribe or 
for success in hunting, fishing, and fighting? Why? 

3. What does Hiawatha's courage in wrestling when he was weak from 
fasting show about him? 

4. After reading line 119: Wlw did the stars seem to be reeling? 

5. AVhy did Hiawatha refuse the food that Nokomis brought him ? What 
does this tell us about him ? 

6. Who has seen corn growing and can tell the class about it" 
New Name: Mondamin. 

Hiawatha's Friends. 

Preface the presentation of this section with u few questions as to what 
sort of special friends Pliawatha would be like to have. Would they be 
brave or timid ? Kind or cruel ? Friends and helpers of all the people or 
trouble makers? 

Here, for the fir.st time in the poem, there is no need to tell the content 
before reading the text. Weave in all necessary interpretation while read- 
ing. Develop the following: 

1. What other strong man does the class know about? (Hercules.) 
Was he, like Kwasind, a friend of men ? 

2. What sort of a musician must Chibiabos have been if the birds and 
the brook wished him to teach them his music? 

3. Who has ever made whistles out of willo\\' and maple bark or cane 
joints? (All country boys will understand this question.) 

4. Which do you like best, Chibiabos or Kwasind? Why? 

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This topic contains very little narrative action and the next topic should 
be given, if possible, in the same lesson "with it. 
New Names: Chibiabos; Kwasind. 

Hiawatha's Sailing. 

Introduce this story by questions and suggestions as to how the Indians 
got about from place to place. This will interest the class in the story of 
hoAv Hiawatha built the first birch-bark canoe. Ask the class if they have 
ever seen one or a model of one. If possible bring or have some pupil bring 
a model to class. 

First, describe a birch-bark canoe. If no model is at hand work in a 
chalk sketch. Then tell how Hiawatha's invention was made: how the 
bark was stripped, how the frame was shaped and lashed together, how the 
birch bark was sewed together with strings of roots or leather and with a 
bone needle, how it was made water-tight with pitch, and how it was 
decorated with porcupine quills in color designs. Describe how swiftly and 
silently such a canoe could be paddled along,— just the thing for hunting, 
fishing, or fighting,— and how tough and light it was. 

Then, read the poem. Bring out each detail of construction. Make it 
clear that this was a supernatural canoe,— that it went just as its maker 
wished. Kwasind should figure here as sharer with Hiawatha in opening 
the river for the people. Bring out the importance and usefulness of their 
work to the whole tribe. Delight in good service well done is one of the 
emotions that the class should feel in following this and many other inci- 
dents of Hiawatha's life. Therefore this and all the stories in the poem 
should help to establish the hero as a helper of his people. 

Hiawatha's Fishing. 

The telling of this story preceding the reading of it should consist of a 
bare outline of its events. In the reading that follows the teacher should 
interpret the several effective bits of figurative description, which would 
otherwise be lost to the class. Thus the lines 12-13, 14-15, 23-24, 68-69, 
and 123 should be made clear by between-the-line comments. 

The following are good subjects for class response to questions thrown 
out during the reading: 

1. Would you say that Hiawatha had good fishing tackle? 

2. What is a sunfish? 

3. What other man was swallowed by a fish 1 

4. Was Tail-in-air a good name for the squirrel? 

5. What shows how the birds loved Hiawatha ? 

6. What part of the story do you like best? Why? At the beginning 
of this story, as well as from time to time throughout the work, the teacher 
should bring out the fact that these tales are mj^ths and legends of the 
Indians, — old stories told by them of the beginning of things and of the 
exploits of a great hero, a veritable Hercules, Hiawatha. With that in 
mind and in that spirit, the class will enjoy each supernatural event and 



each exaggerated adventure. 



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Do not try to explain away the impossible in this or any of the other 
stories. We can all thoroughly enjoy it without believing it to be true or 
without even qu&stioning its truth,- — just as one should enjoy any good fish 
story. 

Chalk Sketch: HiaAvatha fishing from his canoe with the squirrel perched 
upon its prow. 

New Names: Adjidaumo, the squirrel; Nahma, the sturgeon, king of 
fishes ; Kayoshk, the sea-gull. 

Hiawatha and the Pearl Feather. 

Bring out clearly the dangers that stood in the way of this new adventure 
of Hiawatha : the distance to be sailed in his canoe ; the fiery serpents, (here 
is a good place to allude to Jason or Cadmus;) the pitch-water in which 
the canoe was in danger of sticking fast ; and finally the strength of Pearl 
Feather, the magician, and his armor. 

Do not make revenge the motive for Hiawatha's expedition against 
Pearl Feather, but bring out with emphasis his desire to rid the people of 
the fevers and pestilent fogs sent out by the magician. Note, also, that 
Hiawatha said little of what he proposed to do and still less of what he had 
done. He was a doer not a talker. Lines 175-181 should be interpreted and 
used as a basis for discussion of this desire on the hero's part to let his 
good works show for what they were worth. Emphasize again the love 
of birds for Hiawatha by making the most of how the woodpecker helped 
him. The origin of the red crest of this bird makes an interesting episode. 
Class interest will always be aroused over myth or legend which can be 
concluded, — "and so it is to this day." In this case let the pupils tell 
whether or not the woodpecker still has his blood-dyed tuft of feathers. 

Hiawatha's Wooing. 

First, recall to the pupil's mind the lonely hut of the old arrow-maker 
and his beautiful daughter Minnehaha. Then briefly sketch the story of 
Hiawatha's wooing. 

Emphasize the following situations while reading and interpreting the 
story : 

1. Nokomis' suspicious fear of a strange Avoman. 

2. Hiawatha's desire to see lasting peace betAveen the Ojibways and the 
Dakotahs. 

3. His reception by the old arrow-maker. (Why did the arrow-maker 
liaA^e his wigwam by the side of a waterfall? Do you suppose that the 
neighboring fall had anything to do with the name of his daughter?) 

4. The AAdllingness of the old man to let his daughter go. and his lone- 
someness after she had gone. (Should he haA^e let her go?. Should she 
have gone?) 

5. The congratulatory comments of the birds, sun. moon, and other 
friends of HiaAvatha. 

The account of HiaAvatha and Minnehaha on their AA'-ay home needs no 

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comment further than that required to draw out the meaning that all nature 
was happy over the success of Hiawatha's wooing. 

Do not omit the detail of Hiawatha's magic moccasins. 

Chalk Sketch: Hiawatha, Minnehaha, and the Old Arrow-Maker before 
the latter 's lodge. 

This story of Hiawatha's Wooing is beautifully told and claims a full 
share of adult interest. It lacks adventures and spectacular events, how- 
ever, and the current of its action is quiet and simple and interspersed with 
philosophic comments concerning love and matrimony. It is therefore not 
strong in its claim on the child's appreciation and should be considered in 
one lesson unit along with the story of Hiawatha's wedding feast, which 
follows. 

Hiaw^atha's Wedding Feast. 

Here, as in the preceding topic, there is absence of sufficient movement to 
make a plot. The telling should be limited to a short outline of the 
elaborate wedding preparations and to a statement of how the various 
guests entertained the company. It should be made clear that this was 
no ordinary wedding. 

The incident of the willow wands sent out for invitations to the feast will 
be of interest to the class because of its novelty. The teacher should be 
on the watch for all such passing chances to bring the episodes of the story 
into contrast or comparison with present-day things already familiar to 
the class. 

Chibiabos' song is not susceptible to grammar grade interpretation, 
and should not be dwelled upon. Read it to the class, however, with all the 
skill possible so that they can hear its music. 

Old la goo also proves himself to be an entertaining character. Perhaps 
the pupils know some one like him. 

Bring out, again, the friendship that every one had for Hiawatha. 

Be sure and make clear by parenthetical explanation the meaning of 
the following obscure terms: pemmican; (Ask the children whether they 
have ever seen jerked venison.) otter; willow- wand; prairie. 

The day's work should end with a promise of the story by lagoo for the 
next day. 

New Names: Pau-Puk-Keewis, the mischief-maker; lagoo, the great 
boaster. 

The Son of the Evening Star. 

This story told by lagoo is the tale of the punishment of those who make 
fun of others. The movement of events is considerably involved in parts 
and it should therefore be told fully before reading. 

During the reading the following effective lines should be carefully 
interpreted: 49; 99-103; 107-114; 156; 187; 295. 

Most of the passages may be expanded and given full meaning through 
answers drawn from the class by leading questions. The following should 
be brought out in this way: 

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1. What is the Evening Star? 

2. Did the wicked sisters and their husbands deserve their fate? 

3. Do you think that Osseo was more or less unhappy than he had been 
when he found himself young and his wife old? 

4. Why were the scolding, tongue-lashing sisters turned into jays and 
magpies instead of into canary birds or robins ? 

5. What is our name for the little people, the Puk-Wudjies? 

6. What did lagoo wish to teach the guests ? 

The second song of Chibiabos, lines 334-367, should be read but not 
interpreted or discussed. 

The Blessing of the Corn Fields. 

The introductory lines 1-24 should be expanded into a clear picture of 
the peace and comfort that Hiawatha had brought to his people. Show 
how much better off they were than when they were at war. 

The following lines deserve and need special care in interpretation: 
16-17; 43-45; 152; 171-172; 209-227. (Note, "Ugh!" means "Yes.") 

Weave in the following : — 

1. Why did the Indians think so much of their corn? 

2. Have you ever seen Way-Muk-Kwana, the king of caterpillars, with 
the bearskin? 

3. Why were the ravens enemies of Hiawatha ? 

4. Is Kahgahgee a good name for the ravens? 

5. Let the class bring out our old tradition of the red ear of corn. 

6. How did the Indians divide their work? Wasn't it selfish for the 
warriors to do nothing but hunt, fish and fight, and leave the home work 
and harvesting to the women? (Bring out the fact that hunting and 
fishing was a hard and dangerous way to make a living, and that the 
warrior w^orked at this for a living much as any workman to-day Avorks 
at his trade.) 

New Name: Kahgahgee. 

Picture Writing. 

In lines 1-34 we find a good summary of the use of writing. Develop this 
idea clearly by drawing out from the class other uses besides those mentioned 
in the text. Then bring out the point that the Indians did not knoAv how to 
write and that Hiawatha undertook to teach them. 

In the telling and the reading that follows bring out each of the following : 

1. The great need of the people for some way to write. 

2. The writing materials used by Hiawatha. 

3. Each symbol should first be given and then the class should help in 
working out its meaning. The blackboard should be used here. Other 
picture sjonbols can be brought in by the teacher from histories and books 
on the Indians. 

(See, — Starr: American Indians: pp. 65-73. 
Bass : Stories of Pioneer Life; pp. 9-10. 
Wade: Ovr Little Indian Cousin: pp. 40-44.) 

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4. What was a totem and a totem pole! Why were animals, — bear, 
beaver, turtle, etc., — chosen as totems'? 

5. Allow the children to add new picture phrases to those on the board 
and to write a sentence in picture symbols. 

A keen appreciation of this phase of the story can be developed, and 
at the same time a desirable acquaintance with picture writing will be 
secured. 

Hiawatha's Lamentation. 

The interest of this topic is twofold: first, the interest in the story of 
the death of the admirable Chibiabos and his faring to the land of the 
dead; second, the interest in Indian ways and customs skillfully inter- 
woven by the author. The topic should be carefully told so as to bring 
out the narrative before it is read to the class. Then during the reading 
should be interjected the necessary expansion and interpretation of the 
customs described or mentioned therein. 

In telling the story, proper stress should be laid on Hiawatha's love of 
Chibiabos and his regret over his death ; also the sorrow of nature for the 
loss of the singer. 

Then should be brought in the work of the medicine men and the trip 
of the spirit of Chibiabos to Ponemah, the land of the departed. 

The principal lines and topics that deserve careful exploitation during 
the reading are as follows : 

1. Lines 1-43, in which are found the menace of the spirits, Hiawatha's 
warning, Chibiabos 's recklessness and the fate that overtook him. 

2. Lines 87-154. Here is the custom of medicine making well illustrated. 
The teacher should enlarge upon the event until the class see the chief 
medicine man dressed as a great gray eagle pouring out his incantations 
and charms upon the melancholy Hiawatha. Describe the rattles, tom-toms, 
snake-skins, and strings of wampum used by him, and the babel of chorus 
that accompanied his efforts. 

3. Lines 196-208. In this passage are seen the spirits of the dead on 
their way to Ponemah and through it the teacher should carry to the 
children some idea of the burial customs of the Indians; how when a 
member of a tribe died his family placed clothing, food, firewood, pots and 
vessels, pipe, tobacco, bow and arrows, and sometimes even the body of his 
favorite horse in and over the grave so that he would not be without the 
necessaries of spirit-land life. Perhaps some of the children have seen 
relics taken from such graves or the graves themselves. Always be eager 
to bring the experiences of the children thus into touch with the content 
of the work. 

The story of Chibiabos 's ghostly visit to the village should be read 
as written in the poem, but deserves no amplification. Ghosts, especially 
Indian ghosts, should be left as far as possible without the imaginations 
of children. Any effort to make vivid this ghost scene will do more harm 
than good. 

New Name: Ponemah. 

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Pau-Puk-Keewis ; and Th!e Hunting op Pau-Puk-Keewis. 

These two topics have been united because they are in fact but one story : 
the mischief of Pau-Puk-Keewis and its p/unishment at the hands of 
Hiawatha. The Avhole story should be fully told and then read with 
interpretation interwoven. The following should be carefully developed: 

1. The interesting story told by old lagoo of how pleasant weather was 
let out of heaven. 

2. The eagerness with which the Indians went to gambling and the con- 
tinual winning by Pau-Puk-Keewis. Without tagging it on in so many 
words an excellent moral should be made to stand out in this : the folly and 
unhappiness attending gambling. 

3. The mischief of Pau-Puk-Keewis at the lodge of Hiaw^atha. (Be sure 
that the class know that a lodge was simply a wigwam of hidas stretched 
on poles.) 

4. The wanton slaughter of Hiawatha's friends, the sea-gulls. 

5. Hiawatha's just anger. 

6. The many transformations through which Pau-Puk-Keewis attempted 
to avoid detection. (This should arouse memories of Hercules in his 
struggle with the Old Man of the Sea.) 

7. How Hiawatha tempered the fate of Pau-Puk-Keewis by giving his 
soul the body of the great war eagle. 

The following lines should be made clear with special care; otherwise 
valuable detail will be lost to the class : 

Pau-Puk-Keewis: 118-122; 219-220; 228-229. 

The Hunting of Pau-Puk-Keewis: 1-16; 132; 139-141 ; 191, (What are 
brant?) ; 293; 359-366. 

Throughout this story, as elsewhere, keep before the class the conception of 
Hiawatha as a helper and friend of men, striving to destroy their enemies 
and make life pleasanter to them. 

The Death of Kwasind. 

Recall the friendship between Hiawatha and Kwasind and recount some 
of their youthful exploits. Then briefly sketch the plot of the fairies, the 
Puk-Wudjies, and its execution as preliminary explanation to the reading 
of the poem. 

The following are the most interesting details and should be fully inter- 
preted in the reading : 

1. The secret of Kwasind 's vulnerability. (Here we have a close parallel 
to the charmed life of Achilles.) 

2. How the spirit of sleep overcame Kwasind. Here is a good oppor- 
tunity to compare the sand-man sleep theory with the Indian theory based 
on the activities of sleep spirits wielding tiny war-clubs. 

3. Line 102. 

4. Lines 119-120. Bring this into the experiences of the children by 
having them recall the sounds of the trees when a storm rages at night. 

Throughout, wherever he appears, Kwasind should be portrayed as a 

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kindly, powerful, giant of a man, ponderous in his strength but dull and 
stupid in mind. 

In the death of Kwasind, loved by Hiawatha, comes another hint of the 
passing of Hiawatha. Here is a good place to review the facts of the death 
of Chibiabos and the insults by Pau-Puk-Keewis. Hiawatha, like other 
men, is not immune from trouble. 

New Name: The Puk-Wudjies. 

Ghosts. 

This topic must be omitted. It is a ghost story of the most hair-raising, 
bedtime-haunting sort and has no business being told to children. If the 
teacher is able to re-cast it so that the ghosts crouching in the corner are 
simply ill-mannered messengers from Ponemah, the land of the departed, 
enough may be left to tell to bring out the patient hospitality of Hiawatha 
and his household. This unquestioning, uncomplaining kindness to guests 
is an Indian characteri.stic that should be given all the illustration possible; 
but not at the expense of introducing to the children memory pictures that 
will make twilight and bedtime periods of misery for them. 

The Famine. 

Go back into the last topic and use lines 1-18 as the introduction to this. 
First tell the story, bringing out the horror of sickness and hunger in the 
skin-covered wigwam among the snow-drifts. Describe how the birds and 
beasts were all dead or had fled away to the south ; how Hiawatha saw" his 
wife growing fainter each day as he returned from ranging the forests for 
food; how old Nokomis watched over her and kept the fire burning; and 
finally, while Hiawatha was away seeking madly for something to bring back 
for Minnehaha to eat, how she left him to go on the long journey to the land 
of Ponemah. 

Then read the poem. It is full of toviching situations that will grip and 
hold the class in proportion as the interpretation is well done. 

Lay special stress in developing the following: 

1. The severity of the winter: how all living things that might have 
been used for food were gone; how hunters were frozen empty-handed in 
the snow ; how the people suffered and died on all hands. 

2. Hiawatha's search for food. Do not fail to make the most of the con- 
trast in lines 78-88. 

3. The death of Minnehaha. Bring out the visions that she saw as she 
was dying : how she heard the old waterfall and saw her father standing 
beckoning to her from the door-way of his lonesome wigwam. 

4. Hiawatha's loss. This is typically suggested in linas 140-142. Expand 
their meaning and add to them the loss of her presence in his wigwam and 
her help in all his good works. Strengthen the prophecy of the passing of 
Hiawatha by drawing the full meaning out of lines 176-180. 

The custom of the graveside fire should be made vivid. Bring out, also, 
the fact that Hiawatha, while suffering such a loss, was still thinking of 
the happiness of Minnehaha. Lines 168-173 are the key to this. 

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The White Man's Foot; and Hiawatha's Departure. 

These topics form the last step in the story of Hiawatha and should 
be treated together. Tell the story briefly, prefacing it with an outline of 
the story of the coming of spring, lines 1-135. Do not attempt to bring out 
allegorical or philosophical reflections from the simple events. 

In the reading the following should be explained fully: 

1. How the Spring met and conquered the cruel Winter. Make vivid 
the details of the coming warmth and new life by full interpretation of 
lines 84-109. 

2. The wonderful news brought by lagoo. Let the class interpret his 
strange story in the light of their knowledge of what he was telling the 
people about. 

3. Hiawatha's vision. Here should be brought in the note of sadness and 
regret to which we commonly respond when considering the passing of 
the Indian. Vivify it with concrete details of what was to come : the west- 
ward march, the cold and hunger, the warfare and suffering, the loss of the 
old pleasant village site with its well-filled wigwams and its resources of 
forest and stream and maize patch, 

4. How Hiawatha entertained the white men. Here is a chance to make 
the very most of Indian hospitality. 

5. Bring out the idea that Hiawatha and his ways were now to pass and 
new guides and manners were to come. That the work of the Indian leader 
was over and that the white leader was to take his place, with his new 
messages and commands. 

6. The departure of Hiawatha is properly enough set in the most beau- 
tiful verses of the whole poem. It needs little interpretation. Bring out 
the glory of his departure ; that it was the passing of one who had long been 
friend and leader and helper of his people and who left behind him the 
record of his kindness and helpfulness. Weave in also a touch of sug- 
gestion that he was going to rejoin Minnehaha, Chibiabos, and Kwasind. 
Do not let the class miss the sadness of the people and of nature over his 
departure. But above all read and, as the necessary interpretation is inter- 
woven, re-read the lines so as to bring out the beauty of their music and the 
depth of harmony between their beauty and the splendor and glory of the 
passing. It will be strange, indeed, if after the teacher has sounded the 
lines to herself so as to catch their rich and melancholy music they fail to 
exert their spell over the feelings of the class. 

Memory Work. 

When the poem has been finished let the pupils discuss the question as to 
what stories they like best. Have them point out, also, the parts of the 
poem which they consider the mo.st beautiful. Ftom these parts the teacher 
should choose selections not to exceed thirty lines in all for memorization by 
the class. 



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Cumulative Review. 

1. Who wrote the poem Hiawatha? 

2. What other great poem did he write? , 

3. What is the poem Hiawatha about? (Ans. — It tells how a great 
Indian hero, Hiawatha, came to help and teach his people.) 

4. What is a birch-bark canoe? 

5. What is a totem? 

6. What was the custom of the peace pipe? 

7. What weapons did the Indians use? 

8. What food did they have? 

9. What were medicine men and what did they do ? 

10. What sort of houses did the Indians have? 

11. How did they write? 

12. How did the Indians treat visitors? 

13. What did they believe became of spirits after death? 

14. What was the work of the men? 

15. What was the work of the women? 

16. What sort of stories did the Indians tell? (Ans. — Stories about the 
woods : and the sun, moon, and stars,— -and the seasons ; and animals, birds, 
and fishes; and great adventures; and about the beginning of things.) 

17. Repeat from memory the parts of the poem which you like best of all. 

Fop the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Reading Habits," p. 100.) 

Other Well-known Works by Longfellow: 

The Village Blacksmith. 

The Ride of Paul Revere. 

Miles Standish. 
General Reading: 

Hall : Homeric Stories. 

Kingsley: Greek Heroes. 

Baldwin: Old Greek Stories. 

Shaw: Stories of the Ancient Greeks. 

Hawthorne : Wonder Book. 

Kipling: Jungle Book. 

Kipling: Second Jungle Book. 

Seton : Wild Animals I have known. 

Seton : Two Little Savages. 

Special Reading: 

Indian life, and to some degree Indian legend, are known to all. There 
is something in the primitive simplicity, swift movement, and stirring 
action in both that specially claims the hearts of children. It will be well, 
therefore, and not difficult if the story of Hiawatha has been well taught, 
to get the class to read other accounts dealing with Indian life so as to 
strengthen their fund of knowledge and to build up still more strongly their 
feelings into the common attitudes with which we conventionally view 

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that life. The following references are suggested as available for this 
purpose : 

Snedden: Docas, the Indian Boy. 

Custer: Boots and Saddles. 

Starr : Atnerican Indians. 

Bass: Stories of Pioneer Life. 

Brooks : Story of the American Indian. 

Baylor: Juan and Juanita. 

Stoddard : Talking Leaves. 

Stoddard: Two Arrows. 

Eggleston : The Big Brother. 

Grinnell : Jack Among the Indians. 

Parkman : Oregon Trail. 

Jackson : Ramona. 



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LVANGLLINL. 



General Remarks and Suggestions. 

What are the rasults to be obtained through skillful teaching of Long- 
fellow's Evangeline f First, an appreciation of the peace and beauty 
in the simple Acadian life. In these busy days, with modern conven- 
iences and inconveniences on every hand, it is good for nerves, spirits, 
and ideals to stand in the cool evening on the low foothills back of Grand 
Pre and to see the pleasant village street with its few well-known, simple 
figures : the priest on his errand, the blacksmith at his door, the milkmaid 
on her way, the workmen coming from labor : and to hear the village sounds 
speaking of comfort and simple contentment ; and to watch the pale blue 
columns of smoke rise straight into the air from the wide old-fashioned 
chimney mouths. It is well, too, to visit Evangeline's home, with- its 
thrift, its comfort, its atmosphere of quiet affection and good faith in 
man and God. The first object of the work is thus to build up an emotional 
stand in favor of the peace and happiness and true worth of the simple life. 
After this has been done the class will see what a tragedy there was in the 
shattering of that life by the deportation of the Acadians. 

Second, the development of such poetic appreciations in the children as 
may be induced by the beauty of those lines in which child interest may most 
easily be aroused. 

Third, an admiration of Evangeline as the ideal of womanly devotion ; 
as the type of woman whose affections are too deep to be shaken by the 
avalanches of fate. 

Fourth, a full measure of sympathy for the heroine in all her expectations 
and disappointments. 

In several respects this poem offers serious problems to the teacher who 
proposes to present it to a grammar school class. In the first place the plot 
moves with cumbrous slowness, and, however much this may appeal to liter- 
ary epicures, children are not warmed by such ponderous and stately trend 
of events. Pages and pages are to be found with no significant headway in 
the plot; character after character is introduced, — circumstantially intro- 
duced, — only to drain a tankard or to point out a trail, or to shelter the 
wandering heroine over night. Scores of lines, too, are devoted to land- 
scape descriptions of things not at all essentially involved in the action 
of the story. Such action as there is is in part too refined in motive 
and too involved in expression to touch the primitive and elemental springs 
of feelings predominant in childhood. 

The form of the poem, harmonizing as it does with the content, is another 
difficulty. It hangs the action of the characters with the trappings of 

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some cumbrous pageant; it is devoid of rhyme; it is rarely spirited; it has 
an overflowing measure of inverted constructions. All this may or may 
not impair the poem as a masterpiece ; but taken in the aggregate it certainly 
does complicate the difficulty of presenting it with effect to the grammar 
grade children. These preliminarj' remarks will help to explain some 
of the omissions suggested in the following pages. They should also serve 
to caution the teacher of the ever important fact, here doubly important, 
that strong feelings of appreciation on her part and carefully interwoven 
interpretation are necessary for results in the classroom. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The storj' should first be told by the teacher without classroom use of the 
poem. The characters of real importance are : Evangeline, Gabriel, Bene- 
dict, Basil, and the Priest. Each of these should be introduced and known 
by name or title. The names of the following places, regions, etc., are 
important : Acadia, Grand Pre, Mississippi River, western prairies, and 
Philadelphia. Each unfamiliar name of person or place should be written 
on the blackboard at the time when it occurs in the telling. 

The events up to the deportation of the Acadians should receive the fullest 
emphasis, for most of the story is found in this. Describe, first, the happy 
state of the blameless Acadians. Here will be found place for all the 
details of village and rural life set forth in the poem. The picture of the 
village and its neighborhood, of the evening peace and contentment, and 
of Evangeline's home, should be sketched with all the circumstances that 
the poem affords. This preliminary description should be introduced 
because it serves as the basis for a current idea of Acadian life. Its intro- 
duction is in defiance of a sound rule of story-telling, namely, that no 
elaborate description should be indulged in unless it be introduced in some 
vital relation to the actions, and fortunes of the characters. The best 
that can be done in this necessary violation of a common-sense rule is to 
make the village and farm scene as crisp, clear, and quaint as possible. 
Hence, use all the excellent details contained in lines 20-102. A sketch 
map of the village, river, hill, and basin will be helpful. 

Then should follow the events of the betrothal, in which should be 
brought out the peace and quiet affection of a good homely home. The 
first hint of the coming misery should be introduced here in the form 
of the prophecy of e\dl to befall supplied by the doubts and fears of the 
practical Basil. 

The next scene to be vividly drawn is the mass meeting at the church. 
In the details leading up to this the rumor of trouble to come should be 
skillfully insinuated so that the final climax in the form of the English 
order of deportation comes as a half-expected catastrophe. 

Then should be drawn the fear, and confusion, and misery of the 
embarkation, in which a sharp contrast is found with the peaceful happiness 
of the day before. The death of Evangeline's father typifies the passing 
of all the simple contentment that had been the fortune of the simple 
Acadians up to that time. 

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Meanwhile, Evangeline should be constantly kept in view. In the 
sudden shifting of events she is suddenly deprived of home, father, and, 
as a final tragic blow, of the affianced lover upon whom all her affections 
centered after the death of her father. Her sufferings, if made vivid, will 
typify the sufferings of her people, and at the same time they will arouse 
in the class the sympathy that is always inspired by the pathos and tragedy 
of personal misfortune. The tenderness and beauty of character of the 
sufferer, her sublime resignation and unfailing faith, should add intensity 
to the emotions here experienced by the class. 

After. the ships have weighed anchor and the miserable exiles have left 
their homes in flames, the second stage of the story is at hand. In this 
we have the vain efforts of Evangeline to find her lover. The general 
impression to be given the class from this act of the tragedy is that 
Evangeline followed Gabriel and the rumors of Gabriel from place to place, 
through hardship after hardship, until after the noontime of her life was 
spent she heard that he was dead. This portion of the story claims about 
one half of the whole poem, but the teacher's narration of it should be 
materially curtailed. She should bring out the following episodes : 

1. The trip down the Mississippi to Basil's new home. Bring out how 
Gabriel passed Evangeline by night on the river. This is the great tragic 
moment of the story and the class should not fail to grasp the meaning of it. 
The teacher will find the details of the account of the incident as given 
in the poem an excellent guide to follow in shaping her narrative. A simple 
chalk sketch will materially heighten the effect. 

2. The pursuit from one camping place to another on the broad prairie. 

3. The vain waiting at the Jesuit mission. 

4. The search carried to the deserted hunter's cabin in the far north. 

5. Summarize other unsuccessful quests as is done in lines 1239-125i. 
Not more than one period should be consumed in recounting the whole 
of this vain search. Enough setting of circumstances should be wrapped 
about each of the above to show : first, the love and constancy of the heroine ; 
second, the dangers and hardships that she faced ; and third, the bitterness 
of each succeeding disappointment. 

All deliberate, formal analysis of Evangeline's heart should be omitted. 
Her acts are the best expressions of her wonderful faith and her unwavering 
determination. Therefore, the emphasis should fall on what she says and 
dares to do rather than on deliberate analysis of her states of mind. 
Character is best described, just as it is best made, in terms of what one 
does. So, also, all of the purely objective description should be omitted 
from the narration. Such conditions as affect or are affected by the fortune 
of the heroine are of course vital to the story, but they should be set 
forth in relation to her fortunes and not as* descriptive digressions from the 
narrative. Thus the quiet, peaceful home of her father should be described 
by weaving it into the fortunes of Evangeline at the time of her betrothal. 
So, also, the fearful night scene on the beach should be seen through her 
eyes and interests. The gloomy shores of the river, long miles of prairie, 
liills and mountains, scattering farm houses and Jesuit mission, abandoned 

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hunter's lodge, — each is of interest only in so far as it relates to the progress 
of the plot and affects the welfare of the heroine. If the river is gloomy- 
it is in harmony with the searching girl's feelings; if the plains are wide, 
the mountains high, it is all real only in the terms of her hardships and 
patience. 

The third act of the drama is the shortest of all. Here we find Evangeline 
as a sister of mercy, caring for the fever-stricken. Do not fail to mark the 
lapse of time by the description of Evangeline as she now appears. Bring- 
out the fact that her faithful love was still strong; yet how, in the loss 
of her lover, she gave a share of the love of her full heart to the suffering 
and friendless. The premonition of a tragic climax as she passes into the 
hospital for the last time should be skillfully aroused. A feeling for the 
mysterious and a desire to speculate upon what the fates have in store 
for us is strong in all of us and especially strong in children. This story 
has three tragic premonitory shadow^s of fate : first, the suggestion of danger 
to the Acadians; second, the frequent prophecies of failure in Evangeline's 
various searches for Gabriel; third, the final hint of something tragic 
just at hand that is in the air as Evangeline enters the hospital for the 
last time. 

The final scene in the discovery of the dying Gabriel and the triumph 
of Evangeline's undying love can scarcely be mistold. Do not be afraid 
to put feeling into it, — to use the exclamation, the present tense, direct 
discourse, and other available means of forceful narration. 

After the story has been told, which will require about four lesson units, 
the poem should be read by the teacher to the class, the pupils following the 
reading on their own books. In this reading the following parts should be 
carefully brought out by emphasis in reading and interpretation : descrip- 
tion of Grand Pre ; the events of the betrothal ; hints of trouble to come 
from the English; the embarkation; the principal details of Evangeline's 
search; (See preceding suggestions;) the work of Evangeline as a sister of 
mercy; the final discovery of Gabriel. 

The portions dealing with character analysis and detached descriptions 
should be omitted from this class treatment of the text. The following 
lines will properly fall under this exclusion: 268-287, 357-381, 745-778, 
888-910, 959-1058, 1080-1105, 1116-1164, (this should be summarized by 
the statement that a wandering Indian woman joined Evangeline's party,) 
1177-1186, 1217-1226. Care of course should be taken to unite any 
breaks in the story caused by these omissions. Any one who is tempted 
to resent the abridgment of the poem by the omission of these parts should 
remember that the masterpiece is not being presented to adults with keenly 
defined literary tastes, but to children who will be making a great gain 
if they but rise to an enjoyment of the brisker narrative portions. It is 
the sad and beautiful story of Evangeline that should bear the emphasis. 
The fact that the poet has interlarded the events of this story with sheer 
description and analysis is one of the prime reasons why the poem is 
rarely read by the average reader, except under compulsion of a course of 
study. 

(02) 



The general method to be emploj^ed in the reading and interpreting is 
detailed in the suggestions for the presentation of Macaulay's Horatius. 
(See pages 31-32.) 

Members of the class should not be called upon to read parts of the 
poem aloud. Such a proceeding has absolutely no use as a class method in 
dealing with this selection as literature, and no one will be found to urge 
the poem as a reading lesson. But in case pupils wish to justify an opinion 
or feeling or conclusion by reference to the lines, they should be encouraged 
to read the parts bearing on the matter. Thus one maj^ say that in his 
opinion the Acadians were better off after their exile than before, and 
with the teacher's suggestion he will be glad to read lines 985-998 in 
support of his opinion. Some one in answer may refer to lines 666-679, or 
similar passages. So, also, some one may wish to prove the unwarranted 
harshness of England by reading lines 237-253, or 432-441. The careful 
teacher will find many opportunities for /arousing class discussion on these 
and similar points ; and will have free scope for her skill in directing such 
discussion so as to involve reference to the text by pupils, and so as to 
secure a final precipitate of sensible conclusions and worthy emotions. 

Some of the situations best adapted to serve as a basis for questions to be 
interwoven in the interpretation that should accompany the reading by the 
teacher are : 

1. How would you have liked to have lived in Grand Pre? Why? 

2. What 'were some of the pleasures of life in the village? 

3. What shows you that the Acadians were happy? 

4. How did they feel toward one another? 

5. Do you think that they suffered much because they did not have 
automobiles, street cars, telephones, and newspapers? 

6. Why were they so content without so many of the things which we find 
so necessary? 

7. What were some of the features that made Benedict's farm so com- 
fortable and happy a home? 

8. Who can describe an old-fashioned well? 

9. Was the English commander proud or ashamed of his duty? What 
makes you think so? 

10. Was he to blame for the trouble and misery that followed? Why 
didn't he refuse to execute his harsh order if it went against his grain? 
(Here bring the class to a strong stand in favor of the soldier's unflinch- 
ing devotion to his duty, albeit a duty at which his feelings revolted.) 

11. Wliat was the cause of old Benedict's death? Was it not the best 
for him after all? (Picture him in a strange land shorn of all the old 
associations of farm and village that had been life itself to him.) 

12. Upon Avhom did Evangeline's love and trust center itself after her 
father's death? 

13. Why did Gabriel fail to search for Evangeline? (Bring out such 
facts as tend to show that he had no knowledge of her whereabouts, while 
she could have been expected to have heard of him and his father.) 

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14. Why didn't Evangeline take the advice of a friend expressed in 
lines 708-713? 

15. What do you like best about Basil? 

16. What is a sister of mercy? 

17. Did Evangeline as a sister of mercy forget Gabriel? 

18. Do you think that she lived long after his death? 

19. What part of this story do you like best? Why? 

Memory Work. 

When the reading and the interpretation of the story have been finished 
the teacher should call for opinions as to what parts are the most beauti- 
fully expressed by the author. These should be read in witness of their 
excellence by the pupils advancing them; and then, after general opinion 
has crystallized in favor of certain portions, they should be assigned for 
memorization. The teacher will have no difficulty in leading the choice to 
selections worth a place in the memories of the pupils. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Who were the Acadians? 

2. Where did they live ? 

3. What sort of a life did they lead ? 

4. What tragic fate overcame them? 

5. Briefly sketch the misfortunes of Evangeline? 

6. Wlio wrote the poem Evangeline? 

7. What place does Longfellow take among American poets? 

8. Name some other poems written by him. 

9. Give from memory some selection from Evangeline that shows the 
beauty of the poem. 

For the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Reading Habits," p. 100.) 

Other AVell-Known Works by Longfellow. 

The Village Blacksmith. 
The Bide of Paid Revere. 
Miles Standish. 



(<!4) 



IVANHOE. 



General Remarks and Sug-g-estions. 

There seems to be no doubt that at this time the works of Walter Scott 
are not read as generally as was once the case. "Wliether this is a good or 
a bad sign as to our latter day literary tastes is a question that this course 
of study has no business in attempting to answer. The world has a way of 
attending to such matters for itself, and in the long run manages to attend 
to them with considerable wisdom and satisfaction to itself. But whether 
Scott is read more or less than he was fifty years ago, the plain fact remains 
that even at the present time every one who knows anything about books 
has heard of him; and every one who can claim a fairly good adjustment 
to the literary demands of common, every-day life has read at least one of 
his novels. Moreover, it is similarly known that his novels are historical 
in setting; that they deal with chivalry, the crusades, border troubles, and 
feudal disorders. 

Some acquaintance with Scott's works is therefore necessary. This is 
doubly true because the life portrayed in his novels has many aspects with 
which the person of ordinarily good education must be acquainted. Feudal 
customs, chivalry and its uses, wood-ranging outlaws in jackets of green, 
castles and tournaments and tilt yards, all claim at least a distant place 
in our fund of knowledge. To these and their like, and to their spirit 
as well as to their visible forms, Scott gives us the best introduction. 

Scott's novels are a splendid emotional stimulus as well as a basis 
for useful historical and literary knowledge. It has been said that his char- 
acters are gilded and toned up beyond all human semblance, and to some 
degree the charge must be allowed. But they are never unreal to the reader 
and so never fail to exert a constant claim upon his best impulses and sym- 
pathies. Their lives and times were different from those of the twentieth 
century, yet many of their problems were about the same as ours, and many 
of their brave or kindly or courteous or contemptible acts find close modern 
counterparts in similar situations. Therefore, it is good for the one whose 
emotional life is in the shaping to strike the right attitude at the side of 
Scott's heroes or heroines. Because the stories sometimes portray a char- 
acter who is too magnanimous, or brave, or just, or courteous for this or 
even for that age, it is a poor reason for us to withhold our admiration for 
the high qualities of such a one, or, fearing a like supereminence of virtue 
on our part, to fail to respond in sympathy with his ideals. 

IvanJioe has been chosen as the one of Scott's works for treatment in 
this course. The main reason for this selection is that this novel has for 
some time been made a part of many grammar and high school courses in 



literature. It is, therefore, probably his best known story. Besides, it has 
every claim for admission that any other of his tales could urge. It is 
typically Scott's, it deals with many phases of the life of the times, it is 
full of historical common knowledge, it is almost faultless as to local color 
and atmosphere, it contains a large number of situations that will arouse 
the pupil to helpful emotional experiences, and it is, withal, an excellent 
story, — filled with movement, spectacular events, vivid scenes, stirring 
motivas and stirring deeds. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher should read the whole story through carefully before telling 
any part of it. So much of the fascinating mysterj^ and unexpected out- 
come of events depends upon the teller seeing all parts at once that it will 
not be possible to give the right touch, and the proper suggestion, without 
this general view. It is assumed that the teacher will be somewhat familiar 
with the conditions of time, place, and general circumstances that surround 
the plot. If this acquaintance is lacking it will be difficult to supply from 
any history text-book. Better, in such ease, to read half a dozen of Scott's 
novels and all the history stories suggested thereby as a basis. In no case 
attempt to tell the story without a foundation of intelligent appreciations of 
the times. Otherwise it will be uninteresting and largely unintelligible to 
the class. "Work up, also, a genuine enthusiasm in so far as possible for the 
situations in the novel. It is as hard to get a class to feel that which the 
story has not led the teacher to feel as it is to teach them to understand that 
which the teacher does not understand; — in short, it is impossible. 

Lesson units are not arranged for the teacher in this because of the 
variations that they would have to suffer in being applied to the class room. 
In a story so long and so full of places where the time consumed in pres- 
entation should be freely altered to suit the immediate demands of the 
ease, it would not be of use to propose rigid lesson units. The teacher, 
however, should plan out each day's work carefully in advance. B.v doing 
so she will more nearly be able to assure herself of the following: first, that 
the necessary preparation has been made ; second, that the emphasis is to be 
properly directed ; third, that the plot is to be held together in a way to 
make the whole story most effective; fourth, that the lesson unit has 
dramatic interest in itself, and that it takes the fortunes of the characters 
one step nearer to the final outcome. 

Into the preparation of each day's work should be woven the results of 
such suggestions as follow : problems for discussion by the class ; anticipa- 
tions to be whetted ; mysteries to be guessed at ; scenes to be visualized ; maixs, 
diagrams, and pictures to be used; and all the methodology demanded by 
that day's work. 

It will be well to say a word to the class in advance about the story. Tell 
them briefly that it deals with the timics when Richard was away on his 
crusading and when the Normans and Saxons were not yet become a single 
race; that it is an historical novel,— that is to say, a story dealing with his- 
torical characters and involving many situations well grounded on fact ; 

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that it is one of the first historical novels ever written and that its author, 
Scott, was the first and the greatest of all historical novelists. If the class 
has had the story of the Conquest and of Richard's exploits it will not be 
hard to give them a rapid and at the same time an interesting view of the 
times. In case the story is to be told to a class that has not had these stories, 
it will be necessary to la}^ a somewhat more careful and detailed basis of 
those general conditions upon which the events in the story hang. In such 
case a brief sketch should be given of John and Richard's rivalry, of Rich- 
ard's exploits in the Holy Land, of the unsettled conditions at home, and of 
the feudal and social conditions involved in the tale. As much as possi- 
ble of this background of general circumstance should be woven into the 
story as it is told, as for instance, the relation of Jew and Gentile, the insti- 
tution of the Knights Templar, the nature of tournaments, the forest laws, 
outlawry, etc. ; but some preliminary work such as has been indicated "will 
be necessary to make the story mean much and to prevent too frequent and 
too long interlardings of such matter in the midst of the events of the plot. 
Instead of lesson units, it is proposed to set forth certain subdivisions of 
the story wdiich constitute the steps by which the movement of the plot 
reaches its conclusion. Each of these is vital to the well-rounded presenta- 
tion of the tale and each therefore deserves careful presentation and just 
emphasis. It must be remembered at all times that the significance of a 
situation in the development of the story is in no way proportionate to the 
length of time that must be employed in properly recounting it. A whis- 
pei-ed word, a careless act of kindness, or a. chance and momentary glance at 
a fair heroine may be productive of the most far-reaching consequences. 
The proper degree of emphasis and care in presentation that each of the 
following topics demands must depend on, the importance of each in the 
unfolding of the story. Such suggestions as follow the story subdivisions 
are designed to help in seeing the significance that certain of them hold, 
and to illustrate how thej^ may stand for what they are worth in the telling : 

1. Cedric the Saxon in an ill humor, fuming over trivial and serious dis- 
appointments. (The story is most effectively told to a class with this 
beginning. After having introdliced the hearers to Cedric 's state of mind 
and fortune, and incidentally to many of the underlining conditions of time 
and place that his gloomy spirits reflect, the scene should change to the 
doings of Wamba and Grurth, and thence should follow the order of the 
events as given in the text.) 

2. Gurth and Wamba in the forest. 

3. The travelers. Prior Aymer and Sir Brian, and how they found their 
way to Cedric 's hall. 

4. Dinner at Cedric 's. (This scene holds the source of much of the 
ensuing action and should be very carefully worked out. Bring out, espe- 
ciall.y, the mystery surrounding the Palmer; the race pride and ambitions 
of Cedric ; the character of Sir Brian and his infatuation for Rowena ; 
Rowena's remarkable interest in news from the Holy Land; the Jew's 
furtiveness and the good reasons for it ; and the origin of the enmity between 
Sir Brian and Ivanhoe by prox.y of the mysterious Palmer.) 

(67) 



5. How the Jew was saved from the plot of Sir Brian; and the Pahner's 
secret to Gurth. 

6. How the Palmer found himself in horse and armor. 

7. Prince John 's schemings : political conditions in England during 
the absence of King Richard. 

8. Preparations for the great tournament at Ashby. 

9. The first day of the jousting : the triumph of the Disinherited Knight 
over the five challengers. 

10. Rebecca proves herself a grateful friend of the Disinherited Knight : 
how the horse and armor were paid for. 

11. The second day of the tournament : the triumph of the Disinherited 
Knight over Sir Brian, and how he was discovered to be Ivanhoe. Enters, 
the Black Knight. 

12. De Bracy and Sir Brian's plot to seize Rowena. 

13. The Black Knight spends a merry evening with a merry anchorite. 

14. Cedric's journey toward home, and the wayfarers who joined his train. 

15. The attack on Cedric's party and their imprisonment in the castle 
of Front de Boeuf. 

16. How the designs of Front de Boeuf, De Bracy, and Sir Brian are 
variously disturbed by the arrival of a strangel}^ assorted rescue party. 

17. Wamba risks his neck to secure the escape of Cedric. 

18. How it falls out that the sick man is Ivanhoe. 

19. The capture of the castle ; death of Front de Bceuf ; and the liberation 
of the prisoners. (The story of Ulfried should be skillfully interwoven as 
a minoi- thread in subdivisions 14, 15, 16, and 17, and rises to a place of 
supreme importance in the events attending the fall of the stronghold.) 

20. Supposed death of Athelstane; Sir Brian's escape with Rebecca. 

21. The dispersal of the captives after their release ; and the division of 
the spoils among the outlaws. 

22. Prince John hears of King Richard's return and plots to have him 
waylaid. 

23. Isaac's attempt to ransom his daughter; her trial as a witch, and 
the arrangements for final trial by combat; Sir Brian's vain attempt to 
win her by offering to desert his order. 

24. The Black Knight and Ivanhoe at the priory ; and how after wayside 
adventures they find themselves at Athelstane 's funeral festivities. 

25. The Black Knight becomes King Richard, and reconciles Cedric with 
Ivanhoe; Athelstane attends his own funeral feast and renounces his 
affianced bride. 

26. How Rebecca was saved and Sir Brian destroyed. 

27. How every one who deserves it is made happy. 

The story, although full of action and varied complexity of plot, is 
singularly free from multiplicity of indispensable characters. Some of 
them, however, have unusual names, and several must be known under two 
or more names. The following list is offered as a suggestion as to what 
names should be used: 

Cedric. Wamba, Gurth, Prior Aymer, Sir Brian, the Palmer, (otherwise 

(68) 



known as the Disinherited Knight, Wilfred, and Ivanhoe,) Rowena, Athel- 
stane, Isaac, Prince John, De Bracy, Front de Boeuf, Locksley alias Robin 
Hood, the Black Knight, (otherwise. King Richard the Lion Hearted.) 
the Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst alias Friar Tuck, Ulfried, Rebecca, and the 
Grand Master. 

Each name should be written on the board when it first occurs. Such 
abbreviations as Sir Brian for the almost impossible Sir Brian de Bois 
Guilbert are to be recommended. When we meet a character in a single 
relation only, as the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Sir Lucas 
Beaumanoir, he may be simply and effectively referred to by title or hy 
some such descriptive epithet. The names of places most necessary to be 
used in the telling are : Rotherwood, Ashby, Sherwood Forest, Torquilstone, 
Templestowe, and Palestine. It should be remembered that a needless 
multiplicity of names renders the story tangled and obscure and makes it 
almost impossible for the class to do much in the way of re-telling or 
even in active participation in the presentation. 

Certain scenes of the story should be made so \'ivid as to result in their 
visualization by the class. This is especially necessary when the scene is 
the background for events of the first importance in the development of the 
story; when the visualization of the scene is necessary for a clear notion 
of the events and for the degree of appreciation desired; and when the 
scene is one that "will serve as a type, helping the class to a conception of 
something worth Imowing and understanding for its own sake without 
respect to its importance in the plot. For one or more of these reasons 
each of the following scenes is recommended for crisp, clear, vivid pres- 
entation : 

1. Reception of the travelers in Cedric's hall. Bring out the gloomy 
frame of mind in which Cedric was before his "visitors arrived. Describe 
the great hall, with its blackened oaken beams, its skin-covered floors, huge 
fireplace, and armor hanging upon the wall. Describe the manner of 
Cedric toward his Norman guests, to the Jew, to the Palmer, and to his 
ward, the Lady Rowena. Hospitality of a rude but generous sort should 
give tone to the scene ; but race jealousy and suspicion and pride are always 
to be seen lurking in its shadows. 

2. The tournament. Describe the jousting field, with its benches and 
boxes graded to the social status of the spectators. Bring in the bright 
colors of the banners and costumes and plumes of the courtiers and knights. 
Introduce the herald, with his trumpet and announcements. Give a clear 
picture of the knights in action : how the lances were placed in rest while 
a hush fell over the audience; how the mail-covered horses charged from 
each end toward the center of the arena ; how lances were shivered, horses 
overthrown, and riders thrust from their saddles bj^ the impact of the 
charge. Bring out the confusion and uproar and dust and clangor of the 
melee. Thus will be built up an effective background for the exploits of 
the mysterious champions, the Disinherited Knight and the Black Knight. 

3. Black Knight in the anchorite's hermitage. Introduce all the external 
signs of piety and abstemiousness that were to be seen ; then reveal each 

(69) 



successive detail of the real life of the worldly hermit. Show how the 
knight and the friar came to respect each other 's good qualities. 

4. Front de Boeuf 's castle. The following features typical of a medijeval 
Norman stronghold should be brought out : the moat, drawbridge, portcullis, 
high towers and bastions, dungeon cells with instruments of torture, stone 
floors, great hall, central courtyard, postern gate, and barbican. A chalk 
sketch of the castle will prove easy to make and most effective in giving the 
class a clear mental picture. 

5. The capture of the castle. Here we have an excellent type of the 
method used in storming a mediaeval stronghold. The capture of the castle 
should be presented in a series of clear-cut narrative pictures : 

(a) Show how Front de Boeuf arranged his garrison for defense, and 
how the rescue party planned their attack. 

(6) Present details of how the Black Knight led his party successfully 
against the barbican of the postern gate. 

(c) Describe each step of the forcing of the postern gate. 

(d) Give a clear picture of the horror of Front de Boeuf 's death. 

(e) Describe the escape of the inmates from the burning castle. 

The scenes involved in (a). (?>). and (c) may be well presented by letting 
Rebecca describe them to Ivanhoe while we listen. 

6. The outlaw's tryst after the capture of the castle. Bring out the joy 
of the outlaws over their victory; their fairness in the division of the 
spoils; the obedience they showed Locksley, their leader; their standards 
of physical manhood and courage as shown in the bout between the Black 
Knight and Friar Tuck; their underlying sense of fair play and justice, 
and the spirit of freedom that characterized every act. 

7. Athelstane's funeral festivities. Bring out the details of the feasting, 
drinking, and formal eeremon^- that accompanied the rites. It should all 
be described in terms of what the Black Knight saw and thought. 

8. The trial of Rebecca by combat. Make clear to the class the picture 
of the tilt yard, with its benches for spectators and its high paling all 
around. Describe the gathering of the Templars; the preparation of the 
iron stake and the fagots; the announcement of the trial by combat; 
Rebecca's vain waiting for a champion; Sir Brian's conflicting emotions 
and his urgent appeal to Rebecca; and finally, just as the sun was about 
to dip, the arrival of Ivanhoe. Through the whole of this tragic scene 
one question should hold the class : what can be done and v/hat will be 
done to save Rebecca not only from the wretched Sir Brian but from her 
impending doom at the stake. 

A common-sense, working understanding of each of the above scenes, and 
in less degree of many other scenes laid in the story, will serve in such type 
forming as will help the pupil in a thousand frequent illusions, references, 
and experiences in his wider relations with art, literature, the play, history 
and, for that matter, common conversation. 

In attempting to make the class visualize or see in imagination any 
particular scene, the use of maps, diagrams, sketches, chalk-talk work, and 
pictures should be used. A rough plan showing the relations between 

(70) 



Rotherwood, Sherwood Forest, Ashby, the scene of the roadside attack, 
Torquilstone and the anchorite's cell, will be helpful in making parts of 
the action clear. 

All of the characters listed among the names considered essential in the 
telling, (see pp. 68-69,) are drawn by Scott with force and distinctness. 
The following list of attributes is therefore a selection of those pertaining to 
the most essential personages in the story. Each has minor aspects as we 
view his actions, yet the side to be emphasized is the one here suggested : 

1. Cedric's dominant characteristic is to be found in his descriptive title, 
The Saxon. He is a brave, unselfish man ; but stubborn beyond reason, and 
severely rather than kindly just. Above all he is intensely devoted to the 
Saxon cause. Remember that one or another, or perhaps a combination of 
several, of these attributes is shown in every act and motive of his. 

2. Ivanhoe : Marked by Saxon loyalty, but without narrow prejudice 
against Norman virtues. Above all, true to his king. Brave in action, 
unselfish, chivalrous, generous to friend and foe. Eminently skilled in the 
accomplishments of knighthood. Wholly possessed by a deep, constant, and 
admirable love for Rowena. 

3. Rowena : Rather less clearly portrayed than most of the other principal 
characters. A passive character throughout the story. Beautiful, however, 
and good and kind and constant to Ivanhoe and the ideals for which he 
stands. 

4. Wamba : the fool in the case, and yet the wisest man. Marked by 
great loyalty for Cedric and his house ; possessing a wit ever ready for 
repartee or sharp .strategy, and harboring an over-mastering desire to make 
it hot for Normans. 

5. Gurth: a burly fellow of great strength and of courage enough when 
the interests of his masters are at stake. Loyal through all extremes to 
Cedric and the Saxon interests. 

6. Athelstane : a Saxon glutton ; type of the man of great heart and 
capable of splendid action who gives himself up to swinish tastes and habits. 

7. King Richard (the Black Knight) : Fond of adventure, brave and 
efficient as a warrior, ready to see real worth even when lacking its custom- 
ary social trappings. Fond of rough, wild escapades. Interested in the 
welfare of his subjects, and especially interested in Ivanhoe. Above all a 
paragon in arms. 

8. Prince John : a rascal caitiff, treacherous, cruel, selfish, tactless, 
unjust, always attempting to undermine his brother's kingship. An 
unreasoning foe to all Saxons. A foil to Richard in every virtue of 
that hero. 

9. Sir Brian : proud, imperious, cruel, given to sudden and violent 
passions, willing to sink all vows and principles in the effort to gratify 
his ambitions. Showing extreme hatred of all things Saxon. 

10. Isaa«' : shrewd, cringing, abased through persecution ; but kind 
to those who treat him kindly and holding a great love for his daughter. 

11. Rebecca: gentle, grateful for kindness, possessed of supreme courage; 
a noble and thoroughly womanly woman. 

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12. Locksley : skilled in woodcraft, a menace only to the rich oppressors ; 
kind, brave, and loyal at heart. 

In attempting' to endow each of the above individuals with the proper 
characteristics, the teacher must remember that little is to be gained by 
direct description in general terms. It avails little as far as vivid, realistic 
portrayal goes to say that Wamba was quick-witted; but the desired idea 
may be given if a few of his sharp comments are retold in direct discourse, 
and if his scheme to save Cedric, his resourcefulness while riding forth 
with King Richard, and other concrete illustrations of his shrewdness are 
presented in vigorous detail. The teacher should remember that she has 
certain characters with certain dominant characteristics to make real, and 
should play each actor so as to make him reveal his inmost self in every 
motive, feeling, and act. 

The following charts or plans should be sketched and used as indicated: 

1. The great hall of Cedric ; to be u.sed when telling of the entertainment 
of the travelers there. 

2. The lists at Ashby; to be used w^hen telling about the tournament. 

3. Plan of Torquilstone : showing the bestowal of the prisoners and the 
details of the storming. 

The following chalk talks are simple and effective : 

1. Knight on horseback; with slight variations useful in many stage-s of 
the story. 

2. Rotherwood ; showing towers, drawbridge, moat, and method of forti- 
fication. 

3. Torquilstone,— exterior view. This should be made a typical media?val 
castle. 

4. Isaac's dungeon; showing fireplace, torture irons, chains, stone pillars, 
and the skeleton in manacles. 

5. Preparations to burn Rebecca; showing judges and spectators, stake, 
firewood piled up, and Rebecca just about to take her place upon it. 

The following pictures are found in so many histories and history story 
books that it is not necessary to give specific references : 

1. A tournament scene. 

2. Knight in single combat. 

3. A jester. 

4. Mediaeval castle under storm. 

5. Robin Hood pictures. 

When using a map, plan, chalk sketch, or picture the teacher should 
bring the illustration into as close conjunction with the events of the story 
as possible. Therefore, it is better to draw the map, or the plan, or the 
chalk sketch, and to show the picture, while in the very act of telling. In 
this way the use of the illustration in making relations clear is intensified. 

Without doubt the teacher will see, without any one pointing it out to 
her, that the story of Ivanhoe owes a large part of its interest to the charm 
of the element of mystery that it contains. Constantly the reader's imagina- 
tion is whetted and all his detective instincts aroused by the frequent con- 
fusions and disguises of identity, and in the unexplained meaning of events. 

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Each of the following- is a question that should be developed in its proper 
place in the telling. And the conjectures and anticipations aroused by the 
mystery suggasted by the questions will go a long way to give the story its 
strong hold on the interests of the class: 

1. Who was the Palmer in Cedric's hall? 

2. Why was Rowena so anxious for news from the Holy Land? 

3. What did the Palmer whisper to Gurth? 

4. Who were the outlaws who stopped Gurth on his way home from the 
Jew's? 

5. Who was the Black Knight ? 

6. What .sort of life did the outlaws live ? 

7. Who was the sick man borne in the Jew's litter? 

8. What did the Black Knight whisper to De Bracy at the postern gate ? 

9. Where was Isaac when the castle was burning? 

10. Where was the Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst when the spoils were 
divided ? 

11. What befell Ivanhoe after the Black Knight rescued him? 

12. What champion could Rebecca expect to find? 

13. What did the Black Knight plan to do when he left Ivanhoe recov- 
ering at the priory? 

14. Who was it that called upon Ivanhoe when he Avas attending Athel- 
stane's funeral feast? 

15. Who were the minstrel and sturdy priest that came to the trial of 
Rebecca? 

16. Why did Rebecca leave the trial without thanking Ivanhoe? 

It is. of course, understood that these questions are all answered in the 
development of the story. But during the progress of the tale one or more 
of them continually claims the attention and keeps the mind busy planning 
possible outcomes in answer to it. It will be well for the teacher to let the 
class give frequent expression to their suspicions or conjectures as to the 
answers, and to that end to make the questions vital problems in the unfold- 
ing of events. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. What character in Ivanhoe do you like best? Why? 

2. How did the Normans and Saxons feel toward each other in the days 
of King Richard? 

3. How were the Jews treated in those days? 

4. Describe the tournament scene. 

5. Wlio was Robin Hood? 

6. What sort of life did the outlaws live? 

7. Describe a castle of the time of Ivanhoe. 

8. What was a jester? 

9. Describe the appearance of a knight equipped for fighting. 

10. Who were the Knights Templar? 

11. How were heretics and those accused of witchcraft treated in those 

davs? 

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12. Describe a trial by battle. 

13. Why is Ivanlioe called an historical novel? 

14. Who wrote Ivanlwef 

15. What other work of Scott have you read? 

16. When and in Avhat land did Scott live and write? 

Fop the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Reading Habits," p. 100.) 

Other Well-known Works by Sir Walter Scott : 

The Talismmi. 

Kenilworth. 

The Lady of the Lake. 

Lochinvar. 
General Reading : 

Radford: King Arfliur and His Knights. 

Lamb : Tales from Shakespeare. 

Wallace: Ben Hur. 

Porter: Scottish Chiefs. 



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SNOW-BOUND. 



General Remarks and Sug-g-estions. 

This poem has a place in nearly all grammar grade courses of study. 
The literary values to be drawn from it for the class are as follows : 

1. A friendly knowledge of winter life in a snow-bound farm house. 
While the poem deals with a situation of almost three generations ago, it is, 
nevertheless, typical in most of its salient points of conditions still common 
in many parts of the United States. 

2. A sound appreciation of home and homely things, be they ever so 
humble. This, involving as it does right attitudes toward parents, brothers 
and sisters, guests, simple pleasures and home duties, is as much to be 
striven for to-day as in the day of Whittier. 

3. An attitude of kindly, affectionate remembrance of childhood in the 
home. The poem is written with this as its main emotional end, and is, 
therefore, primarily a poem for adults. From children of twelve years 
of age or thereabouts scarcely anything of tenderly sad retrospection can 
be expected. Maturity and some world experience in the reader are 
required in order to catch the full spirit of the author. This spirit, the 
key to the poem, he has expressed in the following lines in which he refers 
to the feelings which he hopes the poem will arouse in others : 

"Yet haply in some lull of life, 

Some truce of God which breaks its strife, 

The worldling's eyes shall gather dew. 

Dreaming in throngful city ways 

Of winter joys his boyhood knew ; 

And dear and early friends — the few 

Who yet remain — shall pause to view 

These Flemish pictures of old days ; ' ' etc. 
But although children in the grammar grades are unable to catch to 
any considerable degree this delight of musing sadly over time-softened 
memories of childhood, they may develop an interest in the poem that will 
lead to later adult enjoj^ment of it ; and thus to the reminiscent attitude to 
which it brings its adult readers. Besides, they may catch to some small 
measure the spirit of the old man looking back upon his boyhood by 
putting themselves emotionally in his place; just as in imagination they 
are accustomed to take the roles of prince, knight, soldier, Horatius at the 
bridge, or what you please. 

The teacher should give the class a preliminary sketch of the narrative 
framework of the poem. In this she should lay the scene and describe the 

(7.T) 



farm while telling of the preparations for the storm. Then she sliould men- 
tion, but not attempt to detail, the various ways in which the snow-bound 
family passed the winter's night; and finally, she should end her introduc- 
tion with the events of the clearing up of the road after the storm had 
passed. It may be well to note here that in scenes of quiet, commonplace 
things it takes genius such as Whittier's to make them vivid, real and inter- 
esting. The teacher who can tell the story of H'oratius at the Bridge in a 
manner to set the dullest eyes in the class room to starting, may find her- 
self pretty much at a loss to make a quiet fireside evening of interest. 
Therefore, she should leave this to the poem and such interpretation as must 
be woven into its reading by her. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The teacher who starts to make this poem interesting to children without 
first having brought herself into harmony with its moods and meanings 
will be trying to carry water in a sieve. Its appeal to the class must come 
from her enthusiasm and the flavor of appreciation that her every expres- 
sion smacks of. If this attitude is not at first present she should try to 
develop it in herself through reading the poem carefully, together with 
some good story of the author's life such as that found in each of the 
following: 

Cody: Four American Poets; Whittier. 

Hart: Seven Great American Poets; pp. 193-237. 

Bolton: Famous American Authors; pp. 399-430. 

She should think of the story as a tale of old-fashioned simple life in 
which the memories of an old man (whose kindly rugged face is in the 
shadow of every line) dwell softly over the scenes of his childhood, over 
the faces and voices and little exploits of those he loved best, and over the 
family hearth where concord and hospitality threw their halo about those 
who gathered there ; — tliose who have long since been fore-gathered 
elsewhere. 

Teaching in this spirit and with careful preparation of the details to be 
emphasized in each day's work, she need not fear that the class will fail to 
get from it all that it can carry to the minds and feelings of children in the 
eighth grade. 

The following lesson units are suggested : 

I. From the beginning of the poem, the coming of the storm, to the 
point where the family and its guests gather around the hearth. (Lines 
1-154.) 

In this unit the preparations for the storm should first be made vivid 
and real. It will be well to have the class help in introducing other details 
besides the caring for the barnyard stock: such as piling up the wood for 
the great fireplace, bringing plenty of water from the well for family use 
during the violence of the storm, closing the outside shutters on all the 
windows that could possilily be dispensed with, and moving under cover 
all articles in the yard that might be covered and damaged by the snow. 

The description of the farm and landscape at daybreak on the second 

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morning should be made clear. Here the viewpoint to be taken is that 
taken by the author : the wondering amazement of the children over the 
way that the snow has changed familiar sights. At this point, while 
describing the various transformations described in lines 55-65, is the 
best place for giving an idea of the lay of the house and out-buildings. 
A chalk sketch including the house, barns, sty, corn-crib, (Be sure you 
knoAv what a corn-crib is,) garden wall, belt of wood, brush-pile, bridle 
post, well curb and sweep, each with its mantle of snow, will be effective. 
It should be developed, detail by detail, as the description found in the 
poem progresses. If the chalk sketch is too difficult, a diagram will be 
found helpful in aiding the class to visualize the scene. 

The next phase of the story, the attention to the live stock, may well be 
introduced by some such question as, "After every one had seen how the 
snow had covered and changed all the familiar things of the farm yard, 
what do you suppose they first thought of?" Or, "How do you suppose 
the horse and oxen and cows and sheep and chickens were faring all this 
time?" Then describe the digging of the path and tunnel through the 
sno^\• to the barn door. Let such members of the class as have seen real 
snow and such others as have encountered the California valley imitation 
of it recount experiences in any way supplementary or illustrative. 

Lines 92 to 115 bring out the lonesome isolation that the storm brought 
to the little farm. Its melancholy note contrasts effectively with the brisk 
and cheery preparations for the evening that are described in the succeeding 
lines, 116-142. The building of the great fire is the chief of these prepara- 
tions and its details should not be slighted. Thousands of people who never 
saw the fire burning in a great old-fashioned fireplace have good, common- 
knowledge ideas of a back log and a forestick, and of how the wood was 
laid and how the huge logs roared and crackled ; and these ideas should be 
given to the class. A chalk sketch may be introduced showing the fireplace 
and the fire. During the presentation of the next unit the details of the 
house dog and cat, the andirons, cider mug, apples, and basket of nuts 
may be added to the picture. Through the whole scene should run the 
feeling of warmth and contentment and love of home that possessed those 
who gathered around the hearth. 

II. The second lesson unit in the reading and interpretation of the 
poem to the class begins with the gathering of the family around the hearth, 
line 155, and ends with the sketch of the uncle, line 349. It should be noted 
by the teacher that the structure of the poem from line 224 to line 589 is 
such as permits many different selections of lesson units. It will be possible, 
if conditions warrant it, to organize this portion into other lesson unit groups 
than those suggested by simply breaking the work at the points where one 
character is left by the poet and another one taken up. 

The first appeal made by the poem is to one's appreciations of security 
and comfort when sheltered by a warm fire while a storm is howling without. 
Everyone has experienced this situation and it will not be hard for the 
teacher, by means of contrasting the wind and snow and darkness and cold 
without and the warmth and good cheer within, to bring the class into 

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a full understanding of the scene. Use each detail to show the satisfaction 
there must have been in having so pleasant a refuge from so wild a night. 

Bring out the meaning of the following phrases : clean-winged hearth ; 
f rostline ; shook beam and rafter ; lines 167-168 ; andirons. In connection 
with line 174 explain the New England custom of autumn nut-gathering. 

Lines 179-211 form a digression from the story proper, — ^a digression in 
which the author falls into a state of subjective reflection and philosophizing. 
In it the attitude of the lonely old man crowds out everything else. This 
passage, with its deep autobiographical interest and its beautiful expression 
of faith in eternal life, has double hold on the adult; but its claims are 
not so easily established in the appreciations of children. The teacher need 
not, therefore, attempt to bring it home to the hearts of the children by 
systematic exploitation. It will be better to read it with a few interpreta- 
tions interwoven, in order that the class may know what it is about and 
feel the charm of its expression, and then to leave its full significance to 
reveal itself in other years when the adult viewpoint shall have been reached. 

Next follow the details of how the evening was passed. These may be 
introduced by the question. ' ' Now that the family are all seated around the 
fire, what do you suppose they did to pass the evening ? ' ' Stories, puzzles, 
and riddles then, as now, held first place, but even the school reader was 
called upon to yield up its contents. (Do you suppose there were many 
books or novels to be had then?) 

Wlien the father told his stories what sort do you think they were,— book 
stories or stories from his own life? Bring out the interesting side to 
each of his reminiscences ; thus, the horseback journeys over the country, 
with their experiences with Indians and French-Canadians. Was the 
country well settled then? Why didn't he ride on a train instead of on 
horseback ? Why didn 't he stop in a hotel instead of camping out with the 
Indians? Lines 228-235 should recall the simple gaiety of the Acadians in 
their festivities, as described in Evangeline. Lines 236-241 give a picture 
of an old-time haying scene. Make its details clear. Bring out the full 
appreciation of the following: What sort of work was scythe-mowing, and 
what sort of men did it require ? What is a bee-line ? Lines 240-241 should 
give a picture of a series of mowers at short intervals and in regular series 
working acros.s the tide marsh. 

Lines 242-247 bring out the pleasures of fishing and camping out along 
the coast. They give a glimpse of a situation that will be interesting 
enough to any boy. Lines 248-255 contain little to interpret except the 
allusion to witchcraft and magic. Quote some anecdote or illustration to 
show the sort of stories that the people of Whittier's boyhood were so 
interested in. (See, for example, 

]\Iadison : A Mai'l of Salem Towne. 

Price: Lads and Lassies of Long Ago; pp 64-84.) 

Bring out here, as in the balance of the poem, the delight there is in 
s'iniple homely pleasures, and the charm of romance that even commonplace 
events have for one who enters into them with whole-souled zest. 



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III. First ask the class what sort of work tlie thrifty mother would 
probably be doing as the family sat about the fire. After reading the lines 
involved, have some one describe a spinning-wheel. Bring out the fact that 
Whittier's family, as was the New England custom in those days, raised 
the wool, carded, spun and wove it, and then made it up into clothes for 
the whole family,— complete suits of clothes for men and boys as well as 
dresses for the girls. Let the class catch a glimpse of the simplicity in the 
sort of life where one is practically independent of all others in supplying 
the necessaries of life. AVho would like to live that way '? Why would it be 
pleasanter? Wouldn't it make for great peace of mind and a sturdy self- 
dependence ? 

Ask the class how they supposed the children liked to hear the Indian 
stories, and whether or not they have ever asked their parents to tell such 
tales to them. Explain fully lines 260-261 ; also, 269-272. Ask the children 
to tell about the sounds mentioned in lines 273-275. (X. B. The hawks 
played; but they did not play the boat horn!) What sort of a region was 
it where such sounds were to be heard? If the teacher or any member of the 
class has ever heard the call of the loon it will not be hard to supply the 
reason for the phrase, "As crazy as a loon." Compare the girlhood pleas- 
^^res of the mother as described in linas 276-283 with the pleasures of the 
present-day town or city girl. In looking back over her girlhood, did she 
seem to regret that she had not had a different lot? Were her memories 
pleasant ones? 

Lines 284-288 should be used as a sidelight upon the religion of the 
Whittiers. Develop the fact, (line 288,) that the Quakers were scorned 
and often cruelly persecuted. Let some member of the class give illustra- 
tions. Bring out the meaning of "fire-winged" in the fact that oppression 
and martyrdom do not crush out but on the other hand rather give wings 
to the progress of any sect. 

In Chalkley's story is found not only a curious old tale, but one which 
involves the horror climax common to many stories of becalmed and ship- 
wrecked sailors, — the sacrifice of one in order that the rest may have food. 

Let the class conclude the sketch by telling what sort of a woman the 
mother was: cheerful, mild- voiced, always busy, and deeply religious in a 
quiet, Quaker-like way. Have some of the pupils tell which of the many 
things that she told about they think the most interesting. 

IV. The sketch of the uncle is filled with the local color of rural life 
among the hills of New England. Bring out the enjoyment that there was 
in the simple country pastimes and rural exploits of the uncle. Let members 
of the class call up similar experiences of their own or of members of their 
families. Have the class point out such details as are not to be found in 
California, such as, parish bounds, partridge, mink, woodchuck, musk-rat. 
Let them then suggest such things of nature as would have interested the 
uncle had he lived here : deer, coyotes, quail, redwood trees, great mountains, 
etc. 

In connection with the reference to Appolonius and Hermes, lines 320- 

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323, outline the story told about ^lelampus in Bulfinch's Age of Fahle; p. 
244. 

Do not quiz the class on any of the allusions found in this section or make 
it necessary for the pupils to remember them. They have a passing- 
value in the interpretation of the lines wherein they occur ; but beyond that 
the pupil will find them of no use. 

V. The sketch of the aunt brings in allusions to the old-time pleasures of 
husking and apple bees. Let the pupils describe them. Have the pupils 
tell whether in their opinion the maiden aunt was mother's or father's 
sister. What shows you that the relatives were always welcome at the 
Whittier home? Do you think that guests in those days pitched in and 
helped the mother with the work, or sat around and allowed themselves to 
be waited on ? Why were visitors so welcome ? Were the Whittiers the sort 
of people who would try to make a flashing show when company was in the 
house ? 

Why is there no account of how the sisters entertained the assembled 
family? Bring out the fact that in those days the young people had little 
to say when the older members of the family were disposed to talk. Prob- 
ably, also, the bitter memory of the loss of the two sisters overshadows in 
Whittier 's mind his other mem.ories of them. In the treatment of the por- 
tions of the poem dealing with the sisters there is need for little interpreta- 
tion. Bring out how dearly Whittier loved his sisters. Which one did he 
care the most for? Which one would he miss the more, — the one who had 
died years before, or the one who had been with him only a few months before 
he wrote the lines? Bring out the music and pathos in lines 407-437 by a 
sympathetic reading. Be sure that the central thought is clear : the bitter- 
ness of present loss, tempered by the faith in a reunion afterwards. 

VI. The sketch of the district school teacher is so fresh, brisk, and vivid 
that it will be easy to secure a class interest in it; especially as it presents a 
familiar character in a novel and interesting light. Two results should be 
striven for in presenting this part of the poem : first, a good appreciation of 
the old-time district school teacher in the person of the ambitious young 
man working his way through an education ; second, a true insight into the 
good, Avholesome, human nature of this particular teacher, and through him 
a more sympathetic understanding of teachers as a class. Arouse a friendly 
interest in his fortunes and experiences. He was one of the many of his 
time who worked his way through college by vacation efforts; sometimes 
peddling, at other times teaching little rural schools. It is in this latter 
capacity that we meet him quartered at the Whittier house in the course of 
his regular cycle of boarding 'round. Explain what boarding 'round was 
and what some of the "droll experiences" (line 458) may have been. Have 
tlie different games explained and find out which ones are still played. Show 
in each activity with which he is credited how pleasant a guest he was to 
have about the place, and try to get the class into the attitude of the Whit- 
tiers,- — that of hearty interest in and love for him as the school teacher. 

Lines 480-509 are a philosophical digression on human slavery, — its evil 

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consequences and the education that is to remedy them. This part of the 
poem is wedged into the story proper and has no more vital relation to it 
than the same amount of space would have if devoted to the immigration 
question or the single tax issue. The teacher should read it, and interpre- 
tation should be interwoven sufficient to bring out this single point : Whit- 
tier sees in the young teacher the type of those men who are to bring 
education to the South at the close of the Civil War and who will thus elevate 
the negro and improve the general tone of the country. 

In this part the teacher again has the necessity of deciding what is an 
alliLsion worth taking up and what is worth but scanty notice. The two 
references (lines 476 and 478) illustrate these two classes. "Pindus-born 
A raxes" is a somewhat scholarly allusion meant to convey no other impres- 
sion than that the river referred to is a stream figuring dimly somewhere in 
classic lore. It should be thus explained and allowed to slip by without 
(luestion. (In a foot-note to this line in a well-known and much-used edition 
of the poem the following note appears: "Pindus is the mountain chain 
\vhich, running from north to south, nearly bisects Greece. Five rivers 
take their rise from the central peak, the Aous, the Arachthus, the Haliae- 
mon, the Peneus, and the Achelous. " Think of the harrowing ways in which 
this reference and conjoined note may be used by the teacher if she fails 
1(! challenge it for its real value and to trim its exploitation in accordance 
llierewith!) 

"Dread Olympus," however, is an allusion of the stock sort. The class 
should be familiar with its meaning from their early stories in Greek 
mythology. Questions should be asked upon it sufficient to bring out the 
fact that Mount Olympus, in Greece, was the sacred mountain upon whose 
summit the Gods dwelled. Naturally it was an object of awe and dread 
to the Greek people. 

VII. The introduction to "Miss Harriet Livermore, daughter of Judge 
Livermore of New Hampshire, etc.," has few if any values for an eighth 
grade. Indeed, the poem would be better off from any standpoint if she 
had been omitted. She is clearly not of the life of the Whittiers or of the 
picture of that life; nor is she a type of anything else. Her personality, 
character, manners, and ways are contradictory and full of such subtle 
changes and shades of change that it is hard for children to get a good idea 
di' her. "Whatever the interest she may have aroused in the young Whit- 
tiers, she arouses little in us, but enters the family circle as an element 
^\holly foreign. In order to get through this part of the poem with any 
results to the class, it will be necessary to describe this "not unf eared, half- 
■\',elcome guest" as well as possible in advance and to tell of her strange 
(idventures in the Orient. Then the lines shoud be read with enough inter- 
pretation to bring out her eccentricities and the sharp contrast that 
they make with the even-tenored life of the Whittiers. Lines 563-589 
should be read with emphasis on the music in them. Interpret just enough 
to bring out the idea that Whittier had only kindly wishes and generous 



(j BUL. 5 (SI) 



sympathy for the strange guest. Do not drag the class into a meaningless 
attempt to discuss the theories of free ^vill and fatalism. 

VIII. In the coming of bedtime are found several crisp details that help 
out our picture of life in the snow-bound farm house. 

First, the early bedtime hour of nine and the fact that the black hand 
of the clock was sufficient to enforce the demands of the hour. Bring out 
the difiference between this peaceful enforcement of the bedtime law among 
the children, and the nagging, miserable struggle that there is in some 
families to get the children into bed. 

Second, the reference to the uncle's pipe. 

Third, the covering of the coals. Let the children understand the mean- 
ing of this and the origin of the phrase, "I've come to borrow a coal of 
lire." 

Fourth, the mother's prayer. Bring out the kindly interest in the wel- 
lare of all that the mother showed, and emphasize the spirit in which she 
prayed: asking for things that she was more than willing to pitch in and 
help secure. And note, too, the simplicity of the things prayed for, and yet 
their complete sufficiency. 

Lines 614-628 contain a number of concrete experiences that recall to 
every one the feeling of security that has been enjoyed while the worst of 
weather prevailed without. Here is a good place to bring out the experi- 
ences of the class with the sound of pattering rain on the roof at night. 
It is a California situation that compares favorably with that described in 
the poem. 

In this portion of the poem is an abundance of details with which to 
complete the picture of simple life. Bring out the difference between 
all the situations found in lines 590-628 and their parallel situations of 
to-day; and show the happiness, contentment, and solid comfort of body 
and spirit that the simple farm life brought the Whittiers. 

IX. In the next section, lines 629-673, we find that the storm has passed 
and that the farmers are busy breaking out the roads so that necessary 
local communication can be established. Three special reactions should 
be given the class from these lines : First, as clear a picture as possible of 
the ox train breaking out the drifts and an appreciation of the purpose of 
it. Second, a keen enjoyment, by proxy, of the delight that the young 
people felt at being free again and how they improved the occasion with all 
the fun that could be gotten from fresh snow. Third, the picture of the 
country doctor, — autocratic, prompt, generous, full of kindness, — busying 
himself in the welfare of the scattered farmers. The class is well-enough 
acquainted with Mrs. Whittier by this time to tell, in answer to questions, 
just what she would be glad to do in helping out the doctor. 

X. Lines 674-714 show us how the family passed the days with their 
limited stock of printed matter until the roads were open and the weekly 
paper came to them. Bring out the fact that the family loved to read, even 
if it had only a small stock of things to read. Describe an almanac. What 
members of the class have read one ? What is to be found in an almanac ? 

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Find out from the class what novels the different members have read and 
tell them of some of the books available from the list of books for the class 
to read. Point out how glad the Whittiers would have been to have had 
such books. What sort of poetry do you suppose Ellwood's was? 

The coming of the weekly paper was a great event in the snow-bound 
home. The following considerations should be emphasized in discussing it : 

1. Explain the meaning of the news items, and, by reference to them, fix 
the time of the events of the poem; but do not make them objects of class 
research nor give them any intrinsic importance. 

2. Have the class notice the different sorts of information found in the 
paper:, foreign news, national news, local news, criminal and sensational 
news, poets' corner, weather prophecies, lost and found notices, and adver- 
tisements of every sort. 

3. Let the pupils compare this old country paper with our modern 
dailies. 

4. Try to get them to see that it is not mere bulk, or frequency of issue, 
or telegraph service, that makes a useful paper. That it is rather its 
adjustment to our needs, its decency of content and its trustworthiness that 
commend it to us ; or at least that should. 

In the conclusion, lines 715-759, Whittier again lapses into the frame of 
mind of a lonesome old man yielding himself to a melancholy contempla- 
tion of the things that have passed. It should be read with feeling, for it 
is charged with it by the author, and the class should be brought to appre- 
ciate the sad melody that runs in its rhythm. By way of interpretation the 
following should be brought out : Who is the Angel of the backward look ? 
Why has he a book? Why associate the hour-glass with him? Make it 
clear that Whittier, though sad for the past that is gone, is hopeful of the 
present and the future; that he is not one of those who feel that the old 
times were better than the new. What is the aloe ? Make clear the object 
of the poem as expressed in lines 740-750. Bring out the rare harmony 
in the allusion to "Flemish pictures." 

When the study of the poem has been completed the following exercises 
are suggested in order that its full values may be secured by the class : 

First — A discussion of the various pleasures there were in the Whittier 
home in winter time. Bring out through questions all the details sug- 
gested by the poem. 

Second- — How did the family get along together, and why were they all 
so happy? Bring out here the simple arrangement of home duties: how 
every one had his share to do ; how the work was made play or mixed with 
play ; how each one thought of the others before himself ; how cheerfulness 
and helpfulness had become habits to the whole family. 

Third — What pleasures were there on the farm in other seasons of the 
year? Have the class supply such activities as the following: swimming; 
hunting; gathering roots and herbs; nutting: husking bees; quilting parties; 
picnies on the beach. 

Fourth — Bring out that it did not take the telephone, rural delivery, 
windmill, expensive house, many magazines, automobile, and other common 

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tilings of to-day to make the AVhittiers happy. If the poem has been well 
tanght it will be safe to say that the whole class will be ready to change 
places and times with the young Whittiers. Have some of the members 
who feel most strongly this way give their reasons for their feelings. 

Fifth — Have the pupils pick out lines that they wish to memorize, not 
less than fifteen and preferably in two different places in the poem. If 
ideas are slow in this selection, quicken the tastes by reading aloud some of 
the most beautiful passages, such as : Lines 1-14, ; 155-175 ; 203-211 ; 405- 
437, or any subdivision of it ; 715-740 ; 740-759, or any part of it. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. About what does the poem, Snow-Boimd, tell us? 

2. In what part of our country was the home of the Whittiers located? 

3. How did the "Whittier family spend the winter evenings? 

4. Which personal sketch in the poem pleases you most? Why? 

5. Why was the life of the Whittiers so pleasant? 

6. Give from memory those parts of the poem which you like best. 

7. Of what country was Whittier a citizen, and when did he live and 
write ? 

For the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Reading Habits," p. 100.) 

Other Well-Knov^n Works by Whittier : 

Barbara Frietchie. 

Maud Muller. 
General Reading. 

Morris: Wood^nan, SiJarc that Tree. 

Hood: Past and Present, ("I remember, I remember"). 

Woodworth : The Old Oaken Bucket. 

Wiggin: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. 

Kipling: Captains Courageotis. 

Twain : Tom Sawyer. 

Twain : Huckleberry Fhm. 



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THL MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY. 



General Remarks and Sug-g-estions. 

Edward Everett Hale wrote The Man Without a Country during the 
Civil War. He wrote it so that men in that day might be brought to feel the 
full strength of the bond that held them to their nation. There was grave 
need, even in the North, for a stimulus to the sentiment of loyalty to 
country then, and this story helped to meet the need. This need still con> 
tinues, and always will continue, although the Civil War is no longer its 
occasion. There are so many other occasions in these "piping times of 
peace" for men to fail in sentiments of forthright loyalty, so many ten- 
sions seek to draw allegiance from the welfare of the state and nation, that 
the story it still almost as useful as it was in the days that called it forth. 

In a recent preface the author has said: "It does not need now that a 
man should curse the United States, as Philip Nolan did, or that he should 
say he hopes he may never hear her name again, to make it desirable for 
him to consider the lessons which are involved in the parable of his life. 
Any man is 'without a country' who, 'by his sneers, or by looking back- 
ward, or by revealing his country's secrets to her enemy, checks for one 
hour the movements which lead to peace among the nations of the world, or 
weakens the arm of the nation in her determination to secure justice 
between man and man, and in general to secure the larger life of her peo- 
ple.' He has not damned the United States in a spoken oath. All the 
same he is a dastard child. ' ' 

The mental and emotional attitudes aroused by the story of Philip Nolan 
are, therefore, no less to be sought now than forty-five years ago. This is 
the more true in- that the nation now has to bring a larger infusion of 
adopted children into the bonds of loyalty. 

A rational pride of country, like a rational pride of family, is a factor 
making for individual decency. Moreover, it is in itself a good thing, even 
a necessary thing, demanded by the standards of our civilization. The 
man who is dead to all interest in his country's welfare is still an outcast 
and a social exile, just as Philip Nolan was. Invisible seas part him from 
the life of his day ; much of the pleasant intercourse of literature and speech 
and community life is cut off from him. He is more like a cave man than an 
American. As one means to the end that this may not be. The Man Willwut 
a Country has found a place in our grammar school literature course. 

Preparation and Presentation. 

The surface as well as the deeper values to be gained from The Man 
Without a Country will be best attained by presenting the story for all 
that it is worth as an absorbing story. Its situations, characters, issues, 

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and problems should be brought to the appreciation of the class as details 
of vivid interest. Philip Nolan must be made mentally real. The various 
experiences through which he passed must be drawn so clearly as to afford 
strong stimulus to the emotions which they are designed to arouse. The 
class must appreciate the elements of mystery, tragedy, pathos, and patriot- 
ism shown in the events of the story. Abstract moralization has no place 
in the work. Its introduction will defeat its own end. Not by the preach- 
ing of the teacher, but by the charm and strength of the story will the gen- 
eral truth best be made known. And the charm and strength of the story 
depend upon its presentation for all that it is worth as a story full of 
moving situations. 

The following special lines of preparation should be made by the teacher 
before the story is taken up in the class : 

1. She should read the preface, the story and the notes as found in the 
copyrighted edition*. 

2. She should establish in her own mind the most important elements of 
the atmosphere of the story. These are, — 

(a) The state of affairs in the territory of Louisiana and in Texas dur- 
ing the decade following the Louisiana Purchase. This involves some notion 
of the wildness and remotenass of the new territory, the adventurous char- 
acter of its few American inhabitants, and the condition of border ill-feeling 
that existed between the Americans and the Spaniards along the unde- 
fined boundary line. 

(&) A brief review of the facts concerning Aaron Burr and his Western 
schemes. The winning personality of Burr, his national fame, his diffi- 
culties with the administration, his duel with Hamilton, and finally his 
visions of empire in the west should be clear. Especially clear should be 
the idea that selfish ambition was the key to his life. 

(c) An understanding of the times sufficient to interpret the significance 
of the situations into which Philip Nolan fell when his life on the sea began : 
the fact that the world was larger to a wanderer then than now ; that ships 
often left on cruises of two and three years; that the War of 1812 would 
naturally involve the vessel on which Nolan happened to be at that time; 
that the horrors of the slave trade had been prohibited by law and were 
being suppressed. 

3. References, allusions, and foreign idiomatic quotations must be under- 
stood fully by the teacher so that she can interpret them when the text is 
before the class. (See page 90.) 

4. Above all, the plot of the story must be perfectly clear to the teacher ; 
critical situations must be appreciated for their full meaning ; motives and 
impulses should be understood in all their aspects; and the emotional 
attitudes which the story is designed to stimulate must be experienced. 

The story should then be told by the teacher to the class. It should take 
the form of a brief but vivid sketch of the text version, involving the details 
of the main situation, but not supplying all the minor circumstances. The 
following should be emphasized in it: 

*Published by Little. Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. 

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1. The life of Philip Nolan on the southwestern frontier. 

2. The influence of Burr over him and how it led him from loyalty to his 
country. Bring out the fact that Nolan was not only an American, but an 
officer in the national army as well, and hence was doubly bound to loyalty. 
Develop, also, all the conditions that made his disloyalty easy: his life 
remote from fellow Americans and from national affairs ; the personality of 
Burr; the tempting opportunity offered to disloyal ambition by the wild 
regions of Texas and Louisiana Territory. The point to be clinched by all 
this is that his treason had every possible excuse, — and yet had no justi- 
fication. 

3. The trial and the sentence of the court-martial. This scene should be 
given in full detail. Bring out, especially, the horror that Nolan's wild 
renunciation of his country aroused in the old officer who judged him. Be 
sure that the fitness of the judgment is made clear. 

4. How the sentence was executed. In this should be explained the way 
in which the prisoner was kept on the seas by means of transfer from ship 
to ship. The details of his life on board ship should be dwelled upon : how 
he was a man set apart from the dearest interests of his fellows in that no 
reference to home and country was ever made in his presence. Describe 
in a general way how he passed from sea to sea and ship to ship and always 
found himself alone. Bring out the routine of his life and let the class 
see that no additional punishment was heaped upon the fate which he had 
sought, — never to hear of his country. Nothing else was lacking to him, 
and yet the main bond between himself and his fellows was missing and 
could never be replaced. In one respect he was as if dead. The various 
situations arising in his life at sea which show what he suffered should be 
left until the text is taken up by the class. 

When the story has thus been sketched briefly as above outlined, the text 
should be put into the hands of the children. They should follow the 
teacher on, their books as she reads and interprets the story. Here, as in all 
cases where the teacher reads to the class, the success of the work will depend 
largely upon what light she throws upon each point as it arises and what 
class activity her leading questions are able to arouse. So much new mean- 
ing and so many new points of interest should be discovered as to prevent 
all flavor of staleness from entering the work. 

The text reading and the interpretation begin with the notice of Nolan's 
death, which event should not be included in the preliminary account given 
by the teacher. Thus a fresh interest is aroused in the very first stage of 
the reading. The teacher should explain that the writer, the "I" of the 
story, is supposed to be a retired officer of the navy and one who would 
in consequence know about the facts of Nolan's case. 

From the first line to the last the author has used the utmost art to give 
his tale the aspect of literal truth carefully expressed. So well has this 
been done that it is fairly impossible for one immersed in the story to doubt 
the veracity of each progressive step. The teacher should preserve this 
illusion of fidelity to fact until the story is finished, because of the realistic 

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force it gives to all the situations. If in the beginning any pupil should ask 
whether or not it is a ti'ue tale, the answer is that that is one of the things for 
the class to find out. At the end of the work a discussion should be held as 
to the probability and possibility of its truth, and by thus discussion it should 
be brought out that the story is simply a great parable on patriotism called 
forth by the times in which it was written. 

The teacher will find occasion for continual class activity during the 
presentation of the text. In almost every sentence is a point to be made 
clearer by a fitting question. The more important points that should be 
made specially clear are the following : 

1. The mystery surrounding the ]\Ian Without a Country whose death 
notice opens the text reading. 

2. The scene at the court-martial. In this should be shown the extreme 
of disloyalty to which Nolan went and, by w^ay of contrast, the effect of his 
actions on old Colonel Morgan. 

3. The order of the President and the methods adopted on board ship to 
give it effect. Note the care with which the author builds up the impres- 
sion of authentic fact in this stage of the story. 

4. The incident of the reading of the Lay of the Last Minstrel. In this 
the reader gets his first insight into the depth of punishment that Nolan 
suffered. Bring out the point that this marks the end of his self-confidence 
and the beginning of his suffering and repentance. The scene found here 
is a most dramatic one and should be made mentally visible to the class. 

5. The dance on board the "Warren," during which Nolan found that 
there was no hope for him to ever get into toueh with home or national 
affairs again. This, also, affords a striking picture which should be made 
clear. Bring out the fact that as a Man Without a Country, Nolan was well 
treated ; but that no one would reach out a hand to lighten his punishment 
that he had brought down upon his own head. 

6. The sea fight in which Nolan proves his bravery and his repentance. 
Show through sharp details the splendid service done by the Man Without 
a Country and the just honor given him for it. But bring out the fact 
that nothing was now of force sufficient to break down the barrier that he 
had placed between himself and the nation that he had disowned. At this 
point the reader, like the old sea captain, is ready to forgive the wretchied 
fellow ; but the consequences of his disloyalty are not to be cheeked. There 
Ls and can be no parole for one who has committed treason. 

7. The narrow, methodical life that was left to him. The excellent 
sketch of Nolan's daily life gathers most of its pathos from the fact that 
his many natural talents and fine tastes had so little scope, — that one who 
might have been a great and iLseful man had to move by rule on so narrow 
and so bare a stage. 

8. The freeing of tJie slaves on board the slaver. In this is found the 
climax of Nolan's punishment and his fullest consciousness of what his 
loss had been. Even the wretched slaves loved the home place and cared 
as much to regain it as they cared for their freedom. Here, too, we find 
an expression of the bitterness of Nolan's suffering. The personal rela- 

(S8) 



tioiis witli him a^-sunied at this point by the writer add to the force of the 
situation. 

9. The death of Nohm as described in the letter. This scene develops the 
full pathos in the misshapen life of the dying man. No one can follow 
it without feeling- the deep loyalty to country that had long" possessed him. 
But the feelings of pity and admiration are not alone aroused. Behind 
them i.s the deeper feeling that the hard fate of Nolan was just and neces- 
sary. Moreover it was for the best, even for his best. Due to his punish- 
ment he had won to loyalty. The experiences through which he passed 
restored to him his love of home and country. Thus, although his life had 
been sacrificed, his spirit had been made whole. 

An endless number of minor points for class discussion will be found by 
the teacher. The following problems dealing with the motives, issues, and 
ethics involved in the story are of superior importance. They should be 
fully threshed out by the class when they arise in the progress of the read- 
ing. Such discussion will go far toward the securing of correct attitudes 
by the pupils and will insure an interested appreciation of each turn of the 
plot : 

1. What was there in Nolan's life that made it easy for him to fall into 
disloyalty ? 

2. Did the sentence of the court at first seem severe 1 

3. How do you suppose his shipmates felt toward him at first? Later? 

4. Suppose you were to lose all touch with country and yet had to live 
among those whose home interests were intense, how would you feel? 

5. What possible good could Nolan's presence do the officers and men on 
board the ships? 

6. Why did the selection from the Lay of the Last Minstrel aft'ect him 
as it did ? 

7. What feelings must have possessed the exile as he was transferred from 
the home-bound ship to the vessel setting out on its cruise t 

8. What does his experience at the dance on the "Warren" show about 
the way in which people thought of him? How would such an experience 
naturally affect him? 

9 What points in the story bring out the change in spirit that crei)t 
over him? 

10. Should he have been pardoned after the part he took in the sea fight ? 

11. How would you like to live the tread-mill life he endured? What 
were the various hardships in it? 

12. How do you suppose the earnest warning he gave to the young mid- 
shipman (the "I" of the story) affected the latter? 

13. Why did he not try to secure a pardon? 

14. What did he lose by becoming a man without a country? 

15. In thought and feeling how did he try to regain something of what he 
had lost? 

16. Why did Danforth fail to tell him about the Civil War? 

17. Was his offense one that could be repaired and pardoned? 

18. What makes his or any other disloyalty to country so evil a thing? 

(S9) 



19. What ways are there in which one can disown his country, even in 
times of peace? 

The teacher will find many references and allusions that will demand 
cursory interpretation as she takes the class over them. Others deserve a 
fuller explanation because of their force in the story or because of their 
common recurrence in literature. The following are of this sort and should 
be clearly explained : 

1. Location at sea given in terms of latitude and longitude. It is not 
the specific location here that is of value, but rather a general intelligence 
concerning the use of latitude and longitude in giving bearings, 

2. ' ' Esprit de corps. ' ' Here used to 'describe the spirit of class harmony 
and mutual confidence that existed among the officers of the navy. It is a 
phrase for which w^e have no good English equivalent : hence, its common 
use. 

3. "When Ross burned the public buildings at Washington." The class 
may remember that Washington was burned by the British during the 
War of 1812. 

4. "Benedict Arnold" — "King George." Why would either of these 
be most offensive names to a veteran of the Revolutionary War? 

5. "Perhaps ladies did not take up so much room as they do now." A 
reference to the enormous hoop-skirts worn by ladies in the middle of the 
nineteenth century. 

6. "Salt-junk" — "turtle soup." A reference to the day when fresh and 
canned meats were unknown on board ship and when any reasonable incon- 
venience would be .suffered in order to get fresh food. 

7. "Contra dances." Dances at which partners stand facing each other 
at some interval during much of the time. 

8. ' ' Iron Mask, ' '■ — more commonly stated. The Man in the Iron Mask. A 
mysterious prisoner of state long confined in the Bastile. His features were 
always hidden by a mask and no one knew who he was or why he was in 
prison. 

9. "Patois." Dialect. The word shade will stand as substitute for it 
in the text. 

10. " 'Ah, non Palmas!' "—"Ah, not Palmas." 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Briefly sketch the story of The Man Without a Country. 

2. What was the offense committed by the Man Without a Country ? 

3. How was he punished for his disloyalty? 

4. Through what experiences did he learn to love his country? 

5. In what ways may one be a traitor to one's countiy \n times of peace? 

6. In what way may our love for country show itself? 

7. Who wrote The 3Ian Without a Country? 

8. "Wliat other story by Hale have you read? 

9. In what dav and land did Hale live and write? 



CM) 



For the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Reading Habits," p. 1(10.) 

Other Well-Known Works by Hale : 
Stories of the Sea. 
Stories of Inventions. 

General Reading. 

Byron: The Prisoner of Chillon. 

Baldwin : An American Book of Oolden Deeds. 

Mabie: Heroes Every Child Shoidd Know. 

Key: The Star-Spangled Banner. 

Holmes: Old Ironsides. 

Read: Sheridan's Ride. 

Miller: Colutnbus. 



(91) 



LNOCH ARDLN. 



General Remarks and Suggestions. 

Some one will probably say, " What ! Enoch Arden in the grades? Enoch 
Arden with its heavy problems of adult life; its situations calling up feel- 
ings deep and complex and subtle?" The question is a fair one and the 
objection is in part well taken. Nevertheless Enoch Arden is now taught in 
many of our grammar schools and there are decided values to be won from 
it in a well-taught eighth grade. 

First. — There are many situations in it that the child of the eighth 
grade will readily appreciate. The coast town life of the children; the 
industry and energy of Enoch as a fisherman ; his home-making prepara- 
tions ; his love for Avife and children and his ambitions for them ; the fears 
and hopes over his parting ; his long absence and the conseciuent hard times 
at home ; his marvelous adventures while away ; even the problem of a 
second marriage that faced Annie, his wife; and at last the wanderer's 
return and self-sacrifice, — all these will be understood if properly presented. 
Nor are the feelings involved in an appreciation of these situations beyond 
the experience of the pupils in quastion. 

Second. — The full meaning of the remarkable story must Ije to any one 
an unfolding, and although all may not be got from it in the grades, yet 
much is to be secured there and the rest will come through, and in addition 
to, what is thus attained. Perhaps the high school will complete the work 
with a second treatment of the poem ; or perhaps the pupil may turn again 
and again to the poem in later days, each time with a fuller response. At 
all events, once the story has taken even a light hold on the hearts of its 
hearers it w-ill never lose that hold and must perforce be lived over and 
over iii imagination, each time becoming somewhat richer and fuller in 
meaning. 

Third. — The poem has certain literary knowledge claims that cannot be 
set aside for the uncertain chance of future settlement. 

Fourth. — It introduces the pupil to the enjoyment of the poetry of 
Tennyson, without which, to be sure, he could boast an ordinary education, 
but with which he is certainly much better off. 

And finally, the poem is already widely taught in the eighth grade. By 
that fact alone its presence here is justified, — provided the proposed 
treatment aids the teacher to any degree in helping her pupils to the literary 
values that it has in store for them. The following suggestions may be 
used in high school or grammar grade work, in each case the discretion of 
the teacher being exercised as to what parts of the work should receive 
emphasis and A\hat parts should be skimmed over. 

(92) 



Preparation and Presentation. 

It is especially desirable that the teacher tell the story of Enoch Arden 
before placing the text of the poem before the class. It goes without say- 
ing that in order to do this she must thoroughly understand and emotion- 
ally respond to each turn in the plot. In some cases this may require sev- 
eral thoughtful preliminary readings of it on her part and each time .she 
must lose herself in the fortunes of the characters. The principal situations 
nuist not only be understood, bat visualized as well. One way that the 
teacher may help herself toward the vizualization of the most dramatic 
scenes is to pause and think how an artist might illustrate each ; or how 
the situation would look if staged. 

During the telling, the class should be stimulated to constant comment; 
response and expression of feeling. T'he critical situations in the story, 
referred to on pages 96-98, should be made especially vivid. This phase 
of the work should result in a clear knowledge of the story by the class and 
a vigorous emotional rasponse to its changing situations. Most of the 
discussion of the motives and issues should arise later when the text is 
taken up. 

The second step in the work is the reading and interpreting of the poem. 
Copies of the text should be in the hands of the pupils so that they may 
follow the teacher as she reads. This will insure closer attention, and a 
fuller understanding of each point in the story. It will also afford the 
pupils a means of making ready reference to specific statements. 

In reading and interpreting the poem to the class the first care of the 
teacher should be to make its scenes clear cut and vivid : her pictures of 
them must become the property of the class. Supplement the author's 
portrayal by homely simple figures or other c[ualifying expressions of your 
own. Have members of the class add details such as are suggested by their 
imaginations. The very modulation of the teacher's voice, — soft or loud, 
brisk or sad, thoughtful or faltering, — will serve to color the description at 
hand or to interpret the action then under way. 

Here as elsewhere in dealing with poetry, the selection is to be read to 
the class with a constant running fire of interpretations. It must be well 
read, so as to bring out the meaning and the vocal beauty of each line. 
But a conscious pose or effort of the elocutionary type is to be avoided. 
Let the manner of voice and person be such as you would naturally employ 
in telling one group of friends just such a tragic story concerning other 
friends. 

The interpretation should generally follow the reading. Make it as 
parenthetical as possible. After all points have thus been made clear in a 
section, go back and re-read that section with its new meaning. Thus, to 
illustrate, one might read and interpret the first lines of the poem in some 
such way as the following : 

"Class, how would you like to live iu such a little seaport town as this: 
'Long lines of cliff breaking have left a chasm : 
And in the chasm are foam and yellow sands;' 

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Such a spot as some of yon have seen along our coast, — a place where there 
is a gap cut by the waves in the high cliffs. How many have seen just such 
a break in our cliffs? But this gap in our story was larger than most of 
the onas we see along the coast, for it gave room for a little harbor. For 
see, — 

'Beyond,' — that is beyond the water and the yellow sand, — 
'Beyond, red roofs (are seen) about a narrow wharf 
In cluster; then a mouldered church; and higher' — 

You see the town is on a liillside sloping down to the sandy beach, — 

— 'and higher, 
A long street climbs to one tall-towered mill;' — 
A winding street, I should say, leading up through the little town to the 
mill almost half way up the hillside. — 

" 'And high in heaven behind it,' — high against the heavens,— against the 
sky line, — behind the mill,^ — 'high in heaven behind it a gray down with 
Danish barrows, ' — old burial mounds of the Danes, you see. How do these 
mounds help us to know that this scene is on the coast of England? Why 
would such Danish barrows naturally be near the sea coast ? 

— 'High in heaven behind it a gray down 
"With Danish barrows, and a hazelwood. 
By autumn nutters haunted, flourishes 
Green in a cup-like hollow of the down.' 

In autumn, you see, the nuts are ripe and the people of the village come 
up to gather them. You are going to hear some very strange things that 
happened to some who came up in the autumn to gather those nuts, so 
don't forget where the trees are. 

"It's rather a pleasant little place where this story happened. Don't 
you think so? Just listen, now% and see how fine it would have looked to 
you if you had been on a desert island for ten years and were just coming 
back and entering its port. — " 

Then read the whole description again, this time smoothly and with all 
the meaning possible. At the conclusion, — "And now that we know all 
about the place, let us hurry on and find something about the strange things 
that happened there." 

This illustration of the method is not proposed as a model, nor is the 
passage interpreted considered to be especially susceptible to interesting 
exploitation, in an eighth grade : but it simply gives an example of what is 
meant by intenvoven interpretation. The results are much more pronounced 
in passages filled with spirited action or with waverings between conflicting 
motives. 

Do not fail to show a natural, unforced pleasure in beautiful expressions 
or scenes as they occur. Our artistic tastes are largely the result of uncon- 
scious imitation, and the teacher's enjoyment of a passage, if not thrust upon 



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the class, will awaken a like enjoyment in them. Thus one might pause and 
show pleasure in the thought and form of the following: 

— " 'Enoch set 

A purpose evermore before his eyes, 

To hoard all savings to the uttermost 

To purchase his own boat and make a home 

For Annie:' — 
Do you think that he was the kind to succeed ? What makes you think so ? — 

— 'and so prospered that at last 

A luckier or a bolder fisherman, 

A carefuller in peril, did not breathe 

For leagues along that breaker-beaten coast 

Than Enoch.' 
I like that picture of Enoch, don't you? See how determined he was to 
succeed so that he could make a home and a living for Annie, — 

— 'Enoch set 

A purpose evermore before his eyes. 

To hoard all savings to the uttermost. 

To purchase his own boat and make a home 

For Annie : ' — 
And see how well he succeeded, — 

—'and so prospered that at last 

A luckier or a bolder fisherman, 

A carefuller in peril, did not breathe 

For leagues along that breaker-beaten coast 

Than Enoch.' 
Why, — of course he was! Who can tell why he became so successful a 
fisherman? But do you think that it was luck that made him a success? 
What sort of a man do you take him to be?" etc., etc. 

Many times in the story the teacher must turn back to other and earlier 
passages for references that throw light upon the situations or the motive 
or the problem under consideration. See how full of new meaning the 
words of Annie as a little girl when we read them after her marriage 
to Philip, — 

"The little wife would weep for company 
And say she would be little wife to both. ' ' 
And what a new meaning there is in Annie's misgivings after we hear of 
Enoch's misfortunes on his voyage. Illustrations might be multiplied; but 
the careful teacher will be constantly on the lookout for chances to perfect 
this back and forward interweaving of the parts of the story. Through it 
each part finally gets its full meaning. 

The poem abounds in issues between motives and confiieting alternatives 
of conduct, many of which are of the highest value as a basis for giving the 
pupils sound emotional attitudes. The supreme issue in, of course, the 
self-effacement of Enoch upon his return, and all the confiict of influences, 

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motives, and alternatives that entered into his decision should be brought 
into the foreground. Let the class decide for him, or with him, after they 
have lived his life up to that point. So in the many other more or less 
important problems. Get the pupils to live the life and make the brave and 
kind and self-denying decisions. In this way they will lind themselves in 
emotional attitudes that will make the story almost a personal experience 
to them; and that at the same time will tend to fix their stand on all the 
like problems that life presents. 

This is the main value of the work : the power tlie story has to make us 
feel aright on some of the common problem>s of life which it presents in 
specific form. That it may do this the teacher should, first, see each 
problem herself and take the right stand on the issue involved in it ; and 
second, present the problem in such a way as to get a like insight and 
attitude on the part of her students. Admiration, sympathy, strong feel- 
ing of any sort for what is right in the conduct of a story character makes 
the pupil an ally of that character and a limited partner in his conduct. 
The following situations, most of which call upon us often in life in some 
form or other for a high or low ethical stand, should be presented so as 
to bring out sound attitudes on the part of the class. 

1. The desire of Enoch to work for and make a home. (What do you 
think of such an ambition? Would he not be happier without a family and 
a home?) 

2. The necessity for courage, ambition, and ability in accomplishing his 
purpose. (Is success "easy ? Why did he succeed? Did his success depend 
on luck? Do you think he deserved to be happy after his efforts?) 

3. The courage and self-sacrifice of Philip that made him renounce his 
love for Annie. (Why did he do it? What else might he have done? 
What was best to do? Wouldn't Annie have been happier with him,^ — for 
he was rich,— than with Enoch, a hard-working fisherman? 

4. The happiness in Enoch's home. (Is it possible to be happy in such 
a simple way? What made the family happy? Wlio Avas better off, — 
Philip with his wealth or Enoch with his family?) 

o. The courage with which Enoch planned when ill-fortune came upon 
him. (What would you have done in such a case? What else might be 
have done? Of whom did Enoch always think first?) 

6. Enoch's ambition to give his children a good start in life. (What 
else might he have done? Was it easy to give the children the advantages 
he wished to give them? What good would it do him?) 

7. The sadness of the parting. (Why did Annie oppose his going? Was 
she right? Do you think that Enoch was as sorry to go as Annie Avas to 
have him go? Why did he stick to his purpose?) 

8. Annie's failure as a shopkeeper. (Does goodness mean business suc- 
cess? Would it not have been better for her to have been shrewd and 
crafty in her dealings? What made her failure so bitter?) 

9. The death of the weakling child. (Which child do you think that 
Annie and Enoch loved most of all? Would it not have been better for 



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Annie to have been a little tricky in running her store li* by doing so she 
could have gained the means to save the child's life?) 

10. Philip's offer to send the children to school? (Why did he make 
it? Did he plan by doing this to make Annie dependent upon him so that 
he could the better urge her to marry him? Should Annie have accepted 
his oifer? Did the death of her child have anything to do with her accept- 
ance? What would Enoch have said? Would Philip have made the oifer 
if Enoch had been home but poor and in hard luck?) 

11. Philip's help to Annie and her family. (A review of the last 
problems. Why did Philip enjoy what he was doing?) 

12. The love of the children for Philip. (Why did they care so much 
for him, and so easily forget their father? Was this right? What would 
have been the situation had Enoch returned before or at the end of the ten 
years ? 

13. Philip's proposal of marriage. (Why did he propose it? Was it 
right for him to do so? Did Annie love him at this time? Why did she 
ask a year's delay? The law says that if a husband is not heard from in 
five years, then the wife can remarry just as though he were dead: what 
sense was there, then, for Annie to wish to wait for over ten years?) 

14. The village gossip. (Do gossipers ever try to see the good in what 
they whisper about? What effect did this gossip have in shaping Annie's 
decision?) 

15. The marriage of Philip and Annie. (Why did the children urge 
the marriage? What made Annie finally consent? Did she still love 
Enoch ? Wliat made her so troubled and unhappy just after her marriage ? 
Why did the new baby make her happy again ? Do you think that she still 
thought often of Enoch?) 

16. Enoch's life on the island. (What do you suppose he thought most 
about? Why was he so unhappy? How would he have felt over each 
event at home if he could have seen all that was happening? Would it 
have been better if he, too, had died? Did Annie still hope and wish to 
see him?) 

17. The return. (How did Enoch feel when one home sight after another 
came into view as his ship came into his old home town? How did he feel 
as he approached his old home? What had changed him so that Miriam 
Lane did not know him? Why did he not out with his story and ask news 
of the first people he saw concerning his wife and children?) 

18. Enoch's final sacrifice. (Why did he not tell who he was after 
he knew that Annie had married Philip? Why did he wish to see Annie 
again? Do you think that there could have been any grain of satisfaction 
in all the sorrow he felt when he saw how happy and well cared for his 
children were? What would have. been the result for Annie and the chil- 
dren if he had told his story? Would their suffering have made him any 
better off? Did he deserve all this disappointment? Who was to blame 
for it all?) 

19. Enoch's lonely life. (Was his Avork as pleasant to him now as it had 

7 — BUL. 5 (97) 



once been ? Now he had few cares and no one to look out for but himself : 
shouldn't this have made him happy?) 

20. His lonely death. (What was the cause of his death? Why did he 
not let Miriam Lane bring the children to see him? How do you suppose 
his dying message affected Annie? Did he blame her or Philip for Ms 
fate? How did Philip feel over his death?) 

These situations may mean much or little to the teacher who is studying 
the poem; and the questions may set her heart on one side or the other of 
great life problems, — or they may merely arouse perfunctory formal answers. 
It is to be hoped that the former in each case will be true. But if not, — 
if the situations mean little and the questions wake no contending feel- 
ings, — then in common decency and out of respect for honest teaching they 
should be left out of the work. The story, in such case, should be told 
with all the meaning that the teacher sees in it, and no more. It should 
be a true interpretation ; not a diluted transmission of someone 's else inter- 
pretation. 

To the teacher, however, who feels the response to the various crises of 
the tale no better story can be found for the emotional awakening of her 
class. For here are the problems of life, — common ordinary home life, — 
simple problems and hard ones, problems that in some disguise or other 
meet us all and must be properly solved by us all if we are to make fair 
claim to a full degree of civilization. And here is the chance to give young 
people a clear, high stand for the correct solution,- — a chance for them to 
align themselves with all that is strong and kind and true and worthy to 
endure in good repute. 

When the teaching of the poem has been done, the class should be led 
into an interesting discussion of the following points: 

1. What character in the poem do you like best? 

2. What situation in the story is most interesting to you? Why? 

3. AVhat action appeals to you as having been noblest and best? 

4. What parts of the poem seem to you to be the most beautiful? 

Memory Work. 

No memory work should be insisted on at the completion of this work, 
but pupils should be tempted to learn by heart such portions of it as have 
made an especially strong appeal to them. 

Cumulative Review. 

1. Sketch the story of Enoch Arden. 

2. "Who wrote the poem? 

3. What other poems by Tennyson have you read? 

4. When and in what land did Tennyson live and write? 



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For the Pupils to Read. 

(See chapter entitled "Good Reading Habits," p. 100.) 

Other Well-Known Works op Tennyson : 

The "Revenge." 

The Brook. 

Charge of the Light Brigade. 
General Reading: 

Defoe : Rohinson Crusoe. 

Stevenson: Treasure Island. 

Dickens : Tale of Ttvo Cities. 



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GOOD RLADING HABIT5. 



We teachers have long claimed that our school work in literature has 
given children a taste for good books. That it should do so, no one doubts; 
but that it generally does not do so is the plain conclusion to which one must 
come after an inspection of actual results. Why this is so has been dis- 
cussed in the introductory chapter and there is no need to repeat or enlarge 
upon that discussion here. Our purpose should rather be to lay plans for 
giving the pupils that discriminating love of books which they must have 
if their lives are to be fully rounded with literary culture and enjoyment. 

It should be recognized at once that a deep enjojanent by the class of the 
eight selections of this course will not in itself result in a taste for good 
reading. Such a result must come from contact with many selections. 
Like other habits, it is the product of many repeated experiences. Never- 
theless, the interest aroused through a proper presentation of each of the 
subjects of the course is a force that may be used by the teacher in securing 
the desired result, a sound reading habit. That it may be so used and 
developed, and that it shall not through neglect be permitted to die without 
lasting influence upon the pupil's literary tastes, should be a very special 
object of care to the teacher. 

The following suggestions are offered with a view of helping the teacher 
to use each rising class interest in the work in hand to the end that good read- 
ing tastes may be developed. Several appropriate references are found at 
the end of the treatment of each selection. These are of two sorts: first, 
other writings by the author whose masterpiece has just been studied; 
second, those familiar in spirit, content, form or atmosphere, to the selec- 
tion whose treatment they follow. Thus Macaulay's Horatius is followed 
by a reference to Yonge's Book of Golden Deeds, a collection of stories 
of heroism similar in many respects to Horatius. So, also, it is fol- 
lowed by a reference to two other ballads by Macaulay, — Virginia, and 
the Battle of Lake Regillus. The reason for thus selecting reading material 
in some respects akin to or by the same author as the work just studied is 
that such material will best draw the interests already aroused by good 
class work. 

"When the presentation of a selection in the regular course has been 
started and is well under way, the teacher should set to work to lead the 
growing interests of the pupils to a delight in the works listed for reading. 
This requires care and skill. Moreover, it must be systematically done if 
results worth while are to be attained. But at no time should the element 
of compulsion or the cold method of the command be employed. The sup- 
plementary reading must be voluntary, free and joyous from the stand- 

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point of the child. Its purpose must always be held clear : a love for good 
books, not a hatred or dread of them. 

The following methods and devices have been found useful in leading 
pupils into friendly contact with the wider range of reading provided by 
the supplementary lists: 

1. Individual pupils may be prompted to read certain of the books 
through suggestions given them by the teacher in the form of personal 
and confidential talks. Thus, she may during some recess or before or 
after school ask some boy who does not .show a desire to read how he likes 
the story of Rip Van Winkle, then under consideration in the literature 
class. From this she may easily pass to the great fund of stories strong 
in the elements of the supernatural, and may, by brief sketches, or the 
testimony of her own past delight in them, or the use of illustrations, arouse 
in him a desire to read the Arabian Nights' Entertainments or some of the 
stories of magic and buried treasure contained in Irving 's Alhamhra. The 
more casually and informally this is done the stronger will be the pupil's 
desire to read. A watchful teacher will be sure to find some interest in the 
most backward pupil that may be led by this method of personal sugges- 
tion into voluntary reading of some of the references. 

2. The teacher should take a few minutes from time to time for the pur- 
pose of introducing the class to some line of reading. This should be done 
in the manner of the first installment bait. That is to say, the teacher 
should sketch as cleverly as possible the opening events of the story. She 
should thus arouse the interests of the pupils in the characters and the plot 
and should then leave them breathless with expectation just as the first 
climax of the story is about to culminate. The book is then referred to and 
shown with all the special commendation possible. Duplicate copies should 
be at hand to accommodate several pupils at once. 

3. Children are like the rest of us in that their appreciations are largely 
the result of unconscious imitation. Because of this it will prove stimula- 
ting to their desire to read a certain book if some of the class leaders can be 
led to express warm interest in it. Occasional impromptu class discus- 
sions should be held by these leaders on such questions as : 

Which book of all that you have read do you like best? 

What sort of stories do you most enjoy ? 

What is there that is so interesting in The Talisman (or other work) ? 

A shrewd teacher will soon find that what the leader among the boys and 
girls has to say about a certain book will go far toward directing the 
interest of his flock. 

4. A number of applications for the use of the same book at the same 
time affords a reason for starting a waiting list which is in itself an interest- 
stimulating device. Each pupil desires the book because others are eager 
for it ; and his desire is all the keener because it cannot be gratified at once. 
From time to time when the waiting list is growing short the teacher should 
make class announcement of this condition and should call attention to the 
opportunities thus afforded 

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5. Pupils who have done some reading should be led to refer to the 
knowledge gained through it as often as possible. This reference to inter- 
esting persons and events encountered in their general reading may be made 
in the history, geography, literature, and composition work. The prestige 
and pleasure that come to the children . from such allusion to their leisure 
reading is a stimulus to their interest in it as well as a spur to the interest 
of the other pupils. 

6. Occasionally some pupil who ha.s especially enjoyed a story should be 
permitted to read or tell it or parts of it to the class. This should be done 
in the spirit of a treat to the class and a privilege to the one who thus enter- 
tains them. At the end the teacher may in an incidental but appreciative 
way call attention to other and similar selections on the desk and ready 
for reading "which are as good or better than the one which the pupil has 
just told to the class. 

The general reading is to be done largely at the pupil 's leisure outside of 
school. FIriday night, on which no regular home work should be given, is 
an excellent time for the taking out of books. Some times a history or 
geography or literature study period may very properly be given over to 
certain readings from the lists of selections, for some of the works are the 
best sort of supplementary reading to portions of the regular school work. 
So, also, an occasional half hour may be given up to general pleasure read- 
ing. If it is possible by any reasonable means to arrange for it in the 
press of other work, two such half-hour periods per week should be devoted 
to this pleasure reading. It is as distinct and as important an object of 
our grammar school course that children should learn to care to read good 
books as it is that they should learn their history or geography lessons. 

It is desirable that special effort should be made to secure the reading of 
as many as possible of the subjects in each list during the time that the selec- 
tion to which they are appended is under treatment in the literature work. 
Thus the selections found under the caption, "For the Pupils to Read," 
folloAving the suggested treatment of Ivanlwe, should be introduced as skill- 
fully as possible to the interests of the class during the time that IvanhoG is 
the subject of the class work in literature. But this general rule should not 
prevent a pupil from reading anything in all the lists upon which his fancy 
may at any time have been brought to rest. 

Any boy who reads the books of these lists under the influence of his 
delight and pleasure in them will have gone a good way toward acquiring 
a reading habit that will make him happier and wiser. The promises of our 
best boast, too often unfulfilled, will then have been fully redeemed in him, 
for he will have gained an open sesame to the literary wealth that is in the 
possession of the world about him. 

The foregoing discussion of the subject of general reading by children 
does not assume to be a full treatment of the problem involved in it. The 
subject is full of questions thus far unanswered. What books should be on 
the school library shelves? For what grades is each best suited? Is this 
particular book good or bad in its influences'? How may this or that book 

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best be introduced to the class? How may that author become a friend of 
the children ? What sort of books does this or that sort of boy need ? What 
manner of appeal will most effectively draw various classes of pupils to 
various classas of stories? Wliat part should juvenile reading play in the 
general scheme? What distinction should there be between the methods 
and aims of directing supplementary reading in geography or some other 
subject, and the methods and aims of directing pleasure reading? These 
questions and all their more specific corollaries must be answered before 
the general reading tastes of children can be brought under systematic and 
effective control. 

Owing to the importance of the subject and to the lengths to which its 
adequate investigation should run, a fuller and more detailed treatment of 
the questions touching the general reading habits of children has been left 
to a future bulletin. It is a subject well worth the study and the emphasis 
of a special treatment. 



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